Puffer dead and out of this hobby

[alienhybridx]

Ok I have no motivation anymore to stay in this hobby I've done plenty of research and I just don't get why this fish has died over the course of 2 days. It's a Porcupine Puffer and I acclimated it over 2 hours or so it seemed healthy and about for about a day or so it even ate some clam. Next morning I wake up it's upper portion of it's body is somewhat swollen a tad and discolored and it was breathing heavier than normal. It wouldn't eat at all. It died the next morning when I woke up and I just don't get it anymore.
What in the world could have caused it's death ? I've kept other fish a lot more delicate than a puffer and they've stayed alive much longer. I've tested my water after I removed the puffer and discarded him to be 100% sure of what is going on with my water's chemistry. Results are as follows:
AMMONIA : 0-0.25
NITRITE : 0
NITRATE : 40 PPM
PH : 8.2
TEMPERATURE: 79 F
SALINITY : 1.023
AGE OF WATER : ABOUT 1 YEAR
WATER CHANGE : 20% 3 DAYS AGO
Equipment ( 55 gallon tank ) :
1) Seaclone 100 with maxijet 1200 powerhead
2) Emperor 400 with chemi pure/ purigen
3) Stealth Heater 300 W
4) Maxi Jet 1200 power head
5) 45 LB live rock
6) 1 1/2 inch DSB
7) 20 snails and 3 hermit crabs are the only livestock in there currently
Any help appreciated because I just don't get it anymore and I'm about to tear down my tank as I just do not understand what is going on anymore. The longest I've kept any fish for was about 1 year which was my yellow tang and humu picasso trigger.

 

[jackri]

Your nitrates aren't optimal but shouldn't have caused the death of your fish.
Honestly.. until I got a sump with cheato in my fuge and a quality skimmer (I really hate seaclones) and my nitrates were steady at 0 I had quite a few problems. The only filtration I have now is a sump with a coralife 125 skimmer and a bunch of cheato and 5 powerheads for movement in my 90.
I RARELY do water changes and my nitrates are always 0.
At this point you shouldnt be showing any ammonia either but its also possible you just got bad livestock that didn't handle the stress of moving tanks.
Sucks and it discourages everyone when things die.

 

[alienhybridx]

that's what I was thinking and quite frankly I am left with 2 options
1) break down the tank and sell off everything
2) do a 50% water change and get a 20 gallon tank and turn it into a fuge and put some cheato in there but that's more money which I don't have right now lol
thanks for any help appreciate it

 

[woodwalker]

Sometimes you can do everthing right and the end result is death. I would take it so hard , the puffer might have been doomed before you made your purchase.

 

[king_neptune]

Someone once told me this hobby is like going to vegas, putting your fish in the tank is like putting you money in the slot machine.
Enjoy it while you can, because its a gamble. Once it goes in the tank you aren't getting it back, it might live for a few days or a few years.
Acclimate 3-4hours via the drip method. Keep scooping the water out and dumping it in the sink. Dont put it back in the tank. Your trates need to be as close to 0 as you can. Have you considered a scrubber? Chaeto? Or some other bonus form of filtration?

 

[jackri]

Honestly I've always acclimated for 45 minutes to an hour, adding a cup of water to the bag every 15 minutes and then take the fish out and put it in the tank with NO problems. It's not your acclimation that did it but probably doomed fish or something like possibly nitrates added to the stress of the move ... which they do get stressed no matter how slow you acclimate them.

 

[king_neptune]

I'm not saying it is the acclimation either, I'm just suggesting do it longer. No point in rushing. Its come this far after all.
Being that it was the first livestock( I mean fish) getting added to the tank I don't see a problem with not putting it in quarantine.
But you say the water was a year old....was that with or without changes? Mabee he ate some bad clam....it happened the day after he ate.
Is this the same tank water that killed your other fish?

 

[fishlawyer]

Originally Posted by King_Neptune
http:///forum/post/2963918
Someone once told me this hobby is like going to vegas, putting your fish in the tank is like putting you money in the slot machine.
Enjoy it while you can, because its a gamble. Once it goes in the tank you aren't getting it back, it might live for a few days or a few years.
Acclimate 3-4hours via the drip method. Keep scooping the water out and dumping it in the sink. Dont put it back in the tank. Your trates need to be as close to 0 as you can. Have you considered a scrubber? Chaeto? Or some other bonus form of filtration?
+1

 

[alienhybridx]

yes it's the same water i've been using to keep other fish and for water changes it's been a while since i've done any for a few months because I had no fish in the tank just inverts
you know it's funny you should mention the clam because that might be it
i've never had a fish die on me within 2 days and even then my nitrates thinking about it were fairly high so it might just be something i recently added to the water or the clam I fed him ( i tried feeding him bloodworms i dont know if thats good or bad )
i say the water is a year old because it's matured and cycled for a year and for the first half year I had fish and inverts then they died after a few months then I just left the tank empty with only inverts with no water changes because my nitrates were sitting at 30ish ppm and until a week before I added the puffer I had done a water change and the trates went down to 25 but this morning they were close to 40
I think i know what the problem is and might be :
1) my skimmer sucks
2) more water changes during the month
3) less feeding
4) keep bio load at a minimum

 

[gatorzone19]

If your emperor has the bio wheels that could be your nitrate source.

 

[alienhybridx]

really ? should i just remove the wheels ?

 

[crypt keeper]

what is in the bio wheel? Bio balls?

 

[king_neptune]

Don't feel too bad. I had a friend put sea horses in his 6 year old 180gal Reef. Everything was fine for 2 months, then they stopped eating. Once that happens they are done for.
He tried to slow the water flow down and make them happy. This upset his corals, and caused them to spawn. Within 2 hours everything in the tank was dead. He lost about $6,000 worth of livestock in an afternoon.
Another time he had an octopus live in his tank for 2 years fine. It died so he bought another one for $150ish. He acclimated it properly,put it in...it inked and died within seconds.
Instead of paying money for a fish....pay money for an upgraded filtration system. Hope you get your motivation back

 

[alienhybridx]

ouch lol
i would have to get a new skimmer down the road and more live rock and have more salt on hand for changes
my question here is do the emperor 400 bio wheels produce nitrates ????
the bio wheels ( 2 of them ) are wet at all times when my filter is working and they spin there is no balls in there it's just a grey material thats very porous wrapped around

 

[crimzy]

If you have traces of ammonia, that is enough by itself to kill the fish. I also wonder if the fish was healthy before you got it. Did you examine it to make sure it was in PERFECT condition and did you have the lfs feed it prior to taking it home? Finally, during the transfer, could the puffer have ingested air? This can also be fatal.

 

[king_neptune]

Originally Posted by AlienHybridX
http:///forum/post/2964046
ouch lol
i would have to get a new skimmer down the road and more live rock and have more salt on hand for changes
my question here is do the emperor 400 bio wheels produce nitrates ????
the bio wheels ( 2 of them ) are wet at all times when my filter is working and they spin there is no balls in there it's just a grey material thats very porous wrapped around
Bio wheels are known to produce nitrates in the long term. how often do you clean them?
Originally Posted by crimzy
http:///forum/post/2964067
If you have traces of ammonia, that is enough by itself to kill the fish. I also wonder if the fish was healthy before you got it. Did you examine it to make sure it was in PERFECT condition and did you have the lfs feed it prior to taking it home? Finally, during the transfer, could the puffer have ingested air? This can also be fatal.
I second that. you said he was swollen at the top. If I remember right, you cant expose them to air when they are puffed up, this prevents them from deflating.
But swollen could also mean an infection of some kind as well.

 

[alienhybridx]

i cleaned them about 2 weeks ago when i start to polish up my tank a bit with maintenance here and there cleaned the wheels off with freshwater and scrubbed them
when i acclimated him he got exposed to air for about 2 seconds but he deflated back
when i got him his eyes were clear and blue he was healthy no signs of ich or stress and even at the store he seemed healthy but they told me he was fed the day before
when i did the ammonia test it was reading at 0 but i can't figure it the difference between that and .25 but im sure its 0
nitrates on the other hand are around 40 and that requires a 50% water change on my part
i've traced it down to 3 possiblities
1) the clam poisoned him
2) internal parasite
3) stress

 

[rslinger]

he could have got sucked up on a powerhead also puffers do that sumetimes.

 

[alienhybridx]

the first day his colors were dead on and he was healthy as a horse
then the next morning i woke up the upper part of his body was a grey color on top of the normal brown/olive coloration his spots were still there though but it was grey colored and a little out of shape
the night before he died he was on the sand and he was breathing harder than normal and he was turning grey in color even more and when i woke up the next morning i saw the poor guy dead ont he sand bed behind my rock ..;(

 

[eric b 125]

depending on when the puffer 'puffed' during his transition, he could have puffed air, which can kill the lil buggers. i dont think you're ever supposed to expose puffer fish to air. if that's the case, it's an easy mistake to make.