porcupine puffer killing other fish?

[budracer8]

we have a porcupine puffer that we have had for about 3 months. we had a yellow tang that weeks ago mysteriously died. one day we woke up and it was brown, looked like it was beat up. the next day it died. weeks later we purchased a yellowhead butterfly. now the same thing has happened. it was red around the mouth and very dull in color. both were very friendly with the puffer. i was wondering if maybe rubbing against the puffer could have poisened them? i have also read that puffers like to nibble on other fish. our water was pretty normal nitrates a little high but not fatal.
thanks for your help

 

[lion_crazz]

Well, first off, what is a "little high" on the nitrates?
Secondly, puffers skin are not poisonous to the touch, so they did not become poisoned. Did you ever notice aggression between the fish?

 

[budracer8]

our nitrates are a little high. we have never noticed any aggression between the fish, they seemed to swim very well together. but i have read that the puffer likes to sneak up on other fish during the night. i thought our butterfly looked as thought his fins were nibbled on, but wasn't sure if they were like that when we got him.
thanks for the reply

 

[lion_crazz]

Right, puffers can be that way, but how high were the nitrates? Tangs and butterflies will not tolerate high trates, whereas a puffer will.

 

[budracer8]

our nitrates were 10

 

[lion_crazz]

Well, 10 is not high at all. I would say with the info given it sounds like the puffer's doing. Is there anything else in the tank with him?

 

[budracer8]

well we took the butterfly out a couple days ago and put it in a friends tank and he seems to be doing fine. but right now there is only a panther grouper, and a small yellow tail damsel.
but it hasn't seemed to bother either of those, and didn't bother the butterfly for a couple weeks until just recently