Problem with Puffer

[lions den]

I woke up this morning and when the lights on my tank came on my puffer was just laying on the bottom of the tank barely breathing. The bulbs around his eyes are all fogged up like someone is breathing to hard. Does anyone know what is wrong with him and what I can do to treat him!

 

[ozzfan84]

do you see any signs of ick? puffers tend to get clouded eyes and act in that manor when they have ick. I had that problem with a pork puffer a while ago, i fed him garlic prawn and let him rest and he was fine. Look for any signs of infection or parasites, and treat him accordingly. Maybe you should throw in some small feeders to keep his appatite up. good luck!

 

[pufferlover]

Could be a couple of things need a little more info first.
Tank size
How long set up
Tankmates
Any spots on fins of Puffer

 

[lions den]

Well, He died last night, but I still want to find out what caused it. I believe it might have been ich, but Im not sure. The tank is a 55 that has been set up for about 1.5 years. The puffer was the first fish added and I have had him for a little over a year. I also had a Tang die this morning and I think what happened is I purchased some uncured live rock a few weeks ago and I put the puffer and the tang in my 20 gallon just for a few weeks and I just found out how easily tangs get ich so I think that when I moved them the tang got stressed, developed ich and the puffer in return got it. He did have some spots on his fins, but with the pattern on his body i really couldnt tell if their were spots on it. Does this sound like ich more something else.

 

[pufferlover]

Spencer I think from what you say that putting those 2 in a 20 stressed the Tang out and it did come down with Ick and then gave it to the Puff. Frankly I am not a big Tang fan as they are what I call a Ick magnet (read that term somewhere once and it stuck with me). If the tank is now empty best bet is leave it empty for no less then 21 days and best for 30 days before trying to add any fish.