Sick golden puffer: need help please

[bergamer]

He has been fine until the other day when I noticed he was not getting up from the sandbed when I walked in the room. Today I noticed him breathing heavily. I began to feed him and he was eating and then all of a sudden he dropped to the sandbed and just sat there breathing heavily. After a few minutes he got and and ate some more and then dropped again.
What is going on?
The tank is well established over 4 years.
Nitrates: 20ppm
All of the other fish look fine except for my maroon clown who has a little fungus infection on the top of his head (it appears to be going away)
I also noticed my Sohal tang scratch a few times against the rock. I have noticed the Sohal scratch maybe once every other day. Today I noticed him scratch 3 times. I have not seen any signs of ich. The only new additions to the tank in the past year are 2 snails and a sea hare (both were in my QT before putting them in my display)
what do I do?
Tank:
210g with 80 or so pounds of LR and 240lbs of LS
bubble king SM 200
Stock list:
sohal tang
purple tang
humu trigger
golden puffer
blue spotted puffer
pearlscale butterfly
regal angel
emperor angel
flagfin angel
singapore angel

 

[bergamer]

I noticed today when swimming that the fish appears to be rapidly using all of his fins to swim. In the past, the fish would just use his top and bottom fin to swim (and would move his fins with a slow movement)

 

[hlcroghan]

It honestly sounds like you are dealing with oxygen deprivation. Do you have a skimmer on the tank? If not, then you might want to add one for oxygen exchange. But you have several large fish so I am going to assume you do. Have you thought about adding another PH and aiming it at the top for some more water movement?

 

[bergamer]

I have a bubble king supermarine 200.
All of these fish have been in the tank well over a year and there haven't been any o2 problems.

 

[bergamer]

I put in a MJ1200 near the top of the tank to create some water movement.

 

[bergamer]

no change after the mj 1200

 

[bergamer]

Please click one of the Quick Reply icons in the posts above to activate Quick Reply.

 

[bergamer]

I just tested for ammonia and it came back at .25
I assume this is the problem?
The test kit is a bit old and I will purchase another one tomorrow and retest.
None of my other fish are showing any signs of stress.
Ammonia is not usually a problem, but a friend took care of my tank last week and I assume there was a lot of over feeding.

 

[mantisman51]

That is a strange thing. If my livestock are acting strangely and I can't find a reason, I do 25% water changes everyday for 2-3 days in a row. Maybe I'm wierd, but I haven't lost very many fish since employing this strategy. And if you have water issues, the first thing everyone says to do is water changes.

 

[bergamer]

I did a a 25% WC (50g) and added a bottle am amquel.
My tank reading are:
PH: 8.0
Ammonia: 0.0
Nitrite: 10ppm
nitrate: 10ppm
If I were to assume that the ammonia burned the puffers gills, how long does it take to heal?
what about parasites? could this possibly be a parasite?

 

[bergamer]

bump

 

[beth]

You do not have enough water movement in a 210 using only a protein skimmer and 2 MJs. ADD water movement to the tank immediately. I would suggest something like 4 Seios, the 2 MJs that you have and then look at your tank and make sure you see water movement EVERYWHERE, every corner. It doesn't need to be like a river rapids, but you should see good water movement throughout. Adding powerheads is a quick solution for the current problem, but with that size pump, you may want to set up an external water pump system that will move a lot of water through a sump system. I am not the best DIY person on this, but explore the Equipment and DIY forum to get input and ideas.
Don't add canister filters.
What type of water are you using, tap, bottled, RO/DI?
What is your process for mixing water?
What is your pH?

 

[bergamer]

I use RO/DI and it drips into a 55g container.
I drop a mj1200 in the container and drop salt in and let it mix for 24 hours.
My last PH test the other day was 8.0

 

[bergamer]

I just noticed that one of his gills is completely closed.
I don't know if it has been this way the entire time or just occurred.
He doesn't appear to be breathing out of this one gill at all. His other gill is working overtime.
What would cause this and how do I treat it?

 

[stdreb27]

Originally Posted by bergamer
http:///forum/post/3088065
I just noticed that one of his gills is completely closed.
I don't know if it has been this way the entire time or just occurred.
He doesn't appear to be breathing out of this one gill at all. His other gill is working overtime.
What would cause this and how do I treat it?
Does it look like this?

 

[bergamer]

his fin is not in his gill. I have seen him do that before. He appears to have closed his gill himself. The fish just opened it again. I would assume the fish is having a problem with that gill.

 

[beth]

Are you going to start working on the advise give and get additional water movement going in the tank?
Without a QT, you can't really use medications.

 

[bergamer]

I put back in 2 MJ 1200's and they seem to be moving a lot of water.
I am going to add a 3rd mj1200 today.
I will be purchasing some larger powerheads today to get more movement.
I have an established 40g qt ready with LR, an aqua C remora skimmer and an HOB skimmer.
Beth, do you still think it is not enough o2?
do you recommend I put him in qt?

 

[beth]

When I had my reef tank up, I had 6 powerheads. It was only a 72 gal. If food can drop on the sandbed and not float around, its not enough.
It may be time to move the puffer to QT, and treat with Maracyn Two for SW fish. Don't remove him from water. Corral him into a ziplock with water.

 

[bergamer]

opps, I began treatment with melafix.
I am two days into treatment and the puffer is getting worse. Should I do a water change and treat with maracyn? or can I just stop dosing melafix and dose maracyn?