mtex

It was my mistake thinking I could do this without going through the QT process. I quarantined when adding to my other tank of amazon puffers when I introduced just one, thought i was safe with the Peas because of their health in shop. Everything will be going through the QT tank from now on no matter what so I have better peace of mind and hopefully less destruction.

My tank has been set up for almost two years now, the original 5 have been in there for almost a year without a single flaw so I'm sure they were clean prior to introducing the newcomers. Since they were the first to go within hours i'm thinking they carried in parasites that spread to the rest of my community. You may be right about the bioload for the tank, though I do overfilter for this purpose and gauge feeding so I don't have scraps floating about. I did have several other fish with the 5 Peas months prior to adding the new Peas before being moved to another tank and I had perfect water at the time. For the future I may keep the amount small just to keep it within safer parameters. Appreciate all the advice, this was pretty stressful trying to figure out.

Appreciate your help, did exactly what you posted and so far so good I still have my remaining Peas and tank inhabitants. Only thing that's changed is I got cloudy water about 12 hours after adding the Expel-P. Is that normal for this med? As for the testing I use the API drops kit, I tend to be aggressive shaking the vials but i'll do it again to see if I get the same results for peace of mind.

Stats: Ammonia: 0 Nitrite:0 Nitrate:0 Ph:7.8 Temp: 80 Tank: 10Gal Filter: 20gal Aquaclear with a mix of foam, carbon pad, bio max and a foam intake filter. Tank Mates: 1 small zig zag eel, 1 small guppy, 1 red band goby I have a small 10Gal community tank which includes 5 Pea Puffers. Saturday I introduced 3 new pea puffers from my local shop, they were the biggest and healthiest of the bunch and were doing well in the shops tank. I took time to acclimate them to my tank and they were even willing to eat a small snack and explore. Hours after introducing them to my tank one of them just died without reason, another followed in the same manner maybe an hour later. Yesterday I lost another, majority loss of color and sunken in body despite being well fed and fat the day prior, the same happened to two more today. I am down to three left and an desperately trying to find a cause buy they look completely fine external wise and all fish were treated in shop and were perfectly healthy prior. I've tested the water to find nothing, I added Fritz Coppersafe upon initial addition of the fish and as of this evening started a light dose of aquarium salt at 5 table spoons. No external signs of disease, gill issues or weird fungus, their poop is even normal. As of right now I do not have any pictures as i've been balancing this tank issue and work however; if I continue to loose any more i'll get some. A note: I added in 20 ghost shrimp two weeks prior and the same exact issue happened where most of them died but only 4-5 remained perfectly healthy. Water stats were the same then, never had this issue before and haven't seen it elsewhere but this tank.

Thanks for responding. After reading a lot of other posts on here I noticed KanaPlex was mentioned 99% of the time so I'm glad I already ordered just in case. I'll order the Expel P but in the meantime I have Fritz CopperSafe in the tank as of two days ago as well as a healthy addition of API Aquarium salt which has honestly given him the biggest boost. I did a salt dip with him the morning I found him. He went from laying around on the sand yesterday to today being able to move around the tank at a decent pace and mingling with the Amazon puffers. His eyes still bother me but at least now he's moving them and being receptive. He won't eat quite yet despite trying to coax him with bloodworms and I even soaked some grapes in garlic (everyone else ate them). Also a note on his breathing it has gone back to a much steadier pace and not as hard as yesterday. Hopefully today or tomorrow I can get some food into him with that KanaPlex. Again thanks for the help!

I need to post yet another update. I am not sure what's going on but I know this isn't good. I moved him to a small hospital tank for the time. I found him this morning on the floor of the tank barely wanting to move. Using a net to scoop him up he was a bit more active but still very weak looking. He's moving around the hospital tank now but he seems lost still. Before putting him in the tank i noticed because of the sand thats in the tank that he had stringy clear mucus hanging off his belly which had collected grains of sand. Could this be epistylis? I didn't notice it anywhere else on the body and the rest of the tank doesn't have a problem. The sagging below the eyes is what really startles me as well. Any thoughts?

As promised I wanted to end this post with some good news with everyones help. The Prazipro seems to have done the trick. Full tank treatment for two cycles and a careful eye on food amount and tank cleanliness. The bump on his stomach as pictured before has pretty much vanished after entering cycle two of the Prazipro so likely this was an internal parasite issue. He also has gotten more active and has just moved into a new rimless 20gal with some new friends. Took some better pictures now that I have my camera back. Thanks again to everyone for the help and hopefully this will help others down the road.

I started the Prazipro treatment today on the tank, after watching him for a bit I noticed he would shake his head and twitch a bit before flashing. After some research apparently this may be flukes like you mentioned. I did a decent water change before the treatment and upgraded the HOB filter with an aquaclear using the cut up sponge media and intake foam that was in the previous HOB filter. Already I think my fish like the difference because they are using the outflow current to swim against like an underwater treadmill. I don't think they liked the splashing as much from the Marineland so hopefully this will also give them more activities to do. I'll keep this thread updated after treatment so it can be a reference for people.

Thanks so much for the help ya'll are awesome for this! I am noticing his flashing has picked up today and he's being a bit standoffish. Something is bugging him but i'm not sure what since the water quality hasn't changed. What would you recommend for a treatment? I have Prazipro but not sure what i'd use in this scenario. I am not currently but i'm setting up a rimless 20gal that i'll likely turn into a brackish setup for them.

Sure thing, sorry it is a little hard to get a clear photo of this guy because he is a bit camera shy. It's kinda hard to see but since i stare at them all the time I end up noticing any change even if it isn't a concern.

The spots i'm not as concerned about, it's the white lump on his stomach about 1cm below his eye that has me wondering. It's perfectly circular and it looks like mole on a person but I can't recall it being there since I first got him. I see something similar much further down on their stomachs after feeding harder/lumpier foods and I know that's just food but this seems a bit high up to be that.

To start, PH: 7.6 Nitrates: 0 Hardness: Unknown Nitrite: 0 Ammonia: 0 KH/Buffer: Unknown Water Temp: Constant 78.9F Tank Mate: 1 Amazon Puffer This is my Figure 8 puffer that has been in my care for about 4 months now. Recently I have noticed a spot on his front right area of the stomach and i'm worried it may be parasites. He is on a steady routine of frozen blood worms, bladder snails, and occasional live ghost shrimp. He eats like a pig and his behavior doesn't seem to differ at all from his usual happy self. About 2 months ago I had an issue with parasites in another figure 8 and amazon puffer I had (both unfortunately didn't make it) which led me to use the only deworming med I had at the time, API General Cure, to save the remainder. I have a HOB filter with carbon sponges in it and a bacto-sponge running in tandem to keep water quality near perfect, I run a test every 3 weeks and have had no changes in quality since starting the tank and letting it grow in. I have treated in the past with Fritz Coppersafe and a light dose of API aquarium salt. I have Prazipro if needed but since I used General Cure several months ago I wanted to hold off till I was sure I needed it. It may be nothing but i'd rather ask than be sorry later. Thoughts? Edit: There was one odd behavior pattern, very rarely he will flash once or twice on the tank decor but only if i'm present and I thought it might just be due to playing rather than an internal issue because it was very infrequent.