Duke Silver

@Spewing_nonsense_ ill just leave this here lol https://recordsetter.com/world-record/taco-bell-nacho-cheese-doritos-tacos-eaten-hour/50977

I'm going to try tank mates, but I'm aware that one day they may disappear or I might need to move them. Currently he is in a 40b with a guppy that he doesn't seem to interested in. I have a 125 setup in my office that is going to be his tank once he has put some size on, currently I just have some random male guppies in there with some SAE.

July 6th 2021: Bender is getting less shy each day, he will start coming toward the front glass when you approach the tank. Today was the first day he actually ate a snail as we dropped it in! 😄 this was a big day for us. He is still picky though about what snails he will eat, seems like they have to be super tiny or we have to crush them if they are slightly larger. If they are to big (even crushed) he just nibbled it then ignores it still. seems like the sweet spot is a snail about the size of his eye or a little less. We were able to get about 8-10 eye sized bladder snail into him this way and he actually had a nice rounded belly after he was finished. Unfortunately all the ramhorn snails I have are to large for him for the time being. I'm hoping once he finishes his supply of snails that are still readily in his tank he will be a little less picky about what size snail he eat. Also I was able to grab a couple pics of the little guy (he doesn't stay still for long). Ive been trying to get one where his tail is fanned open, but I swear he knows when my phone is not out. He will swim at the front glass and do it, soon as I pull my phone out he stops 😲. You can still see his bent spine, but other than that I think he is looking better each day!

I though he was looking better too. He is still bent, not sure if it's as bad though. My wife thinks he looks straighter though

July 4th 2021: Bender is still active and seems to be doing pretty well. He does appear to have an appetite and is getting some of the smaller snails that we have been putting in the tank for him. Unfortunately he still won't eat any snails we crush and put in for him, but would rather wait till they make it to the plants and hunt them. We were able to catch him yawning and it does not appear like his teeth are overgrown, so that's a big relief! We also we able to witness some poo for the first time as well and it doesn't look to be white and stringy. I was able to snag a picture to get everyone's opinions since I'm not 100% what puffer poo should look like. Going to keep taking it one day at a time, bit glad the little guys seems to be making progress ❤️

@Odd Duckthanks for the great advise. Unfortunately I don't have any levamisole yet, I did order some but it hasn't arrived yet. I plan on doing a large water change in Wednesday per the direction of Prazipro and Metroplex, but do you think I should give a rest week before dosing with the Levamisole?

Thanks for all the support everyone. I am working on trying to get some live black worms or something, but unfortunately I don't have an LFS other than a PetSmart that isn't great. That's why I usually go to online ordering for fish. @Odd DuckI'm planning on doing with levamisole after I do Prozipro and metroplex. I heard that dosing all at once cause be stressful for them fish to pass all the worms at once.

What better thing to be my first journal, than a journal about this little guy! so long story short, I ordered a 2-3" fahaka puffer and this little guy was what was delivered. He has a "S" shaped bent spine and looks thin. The shipping was fast and he acclimated well, but I don't believe he was in the best shape before I received him. Now that he is in my care I feel that it is my responsibility to try to get him as healthy as possible, wish me luck! 🤞 July 1st 2021: Bender was delivered and acclimated to his current quarantine tank. His QT is a seasoned 40b with a aquaclear 70 and some Hygrophila Angustifolia. I put some small cherry shrimp, bladder snails, and ramshorn snails in the tank with him to try to get some weight on him. July 2nd 2021: Dosed the tank with Prazipro to deworm since im pretty sure that he has some internal parasites. Bender still didn't seem to active, he hid mostly in the Hygro and didn't show much interest in eating or hutning. Tried to feed some bloodworms, but he would just spit them out after finally trying them. July 3rd 2021: Bender seems a lot more active after about 24hrs of Prazipro being in his tank. Shorty after tank lights came on he was up swimming around and trying to hunt some snails. He does appear to be having issues getting snails off of leaved and glass, not sure if his underbite has anything to do with this. Have been trying to get a look at his mouth when he opens it to see if he teeth are overgrown and need trimmed, but haven't been able to tell yet. Between posts here and on facebook groups common consensus seems to be the bent spine is a birth defect. At this point my wife has now fallen in love with this little guys because "he needs to be rescued and we have to make him better" If anyone has any advice or suggestions on things to try to get this little guy better, please let me know. Currently his tank is being treated with Prazipro and im trying to medicate his food with MetroPlex, but that isn't going so well since he is being picky. I have been trying to keep some small cherry shrimp and small snails in the tank for him to try to snack when he is hungry.

yeah it is a shame, at this point I just hope the little guy pulls through and I can get him healthy.

@eatyourpeasive tried he just spits them out. the retailer said they were feedling live california black worms. Although today after having Prozipro in his tank for 24hrs he seems to be a little more lively today and he is going after some snails in his tank 🤞 trying to get something he will eat so i can try and chunk him up.

@Patrick_G posted in one of the puffer facebook groups, they all have the common consensus that the bent spine is a birth defect 😢and that I should get a replacement and rehome this guy... downside is I would have to pay the $50 shipping cost on the replacement.

@Colu he doesnt have an overbite, he has a underbite. His bottom jaw is sticking out farther than his top.

@Coluthanks for the response, yeah i was hopping to not have to try to trim teeth being he has only been in my care for 2 days and im sure he is still stressed from being shipped. Also wouldnt the teeth be visible when they are too long? his mouth closed fully and I cannot see his teeth to tell. He just has an odd underbite.

Hello everyone, I just purchased a 2-3" fahaka puffer from an online retailer and he arrived on Thursday (7/1). He arrived quickly and acclimated just fine, but he is not in the best shape. he arrived with a "S" shaped bent spine and looks very thin to me. He is currently in a 40b QT tank that is seasoned. I have watched the couple of Cory's talks that are available online about puffers and am aware about their internal parasite issues. I dosed the QT tank with Prazipro, since that is what I have available and also have Metroplex (arriving today) which I plan on dosing his food with. I read on the puffer forum that really bad internal parasites can cause a bent spline. 1. Do you think that is the cause the bent spine or could it be something else? 2. Not sure how to dose his food when I haven't been able to get him to eat anything I put in the tank? I have tried to feed snails, cherry shrimp, blood worms, and brine shrimp but he doesnt seem interested (there are snails and shimp in the tank that I do see him try to hunt down from time to time, so I do believe he is getting some food). I reached out to the retailer that I purchased him from and they said they were feeding live California black worms and frozen hikari shrimp. 3. The couple times I have seen him try to get a snail, it seems like he cant get them in his mouth. He will bite at them a couple times then just leave them alone. Compared to the photos I have seen online of small fahakas, he seems to have an underbite? could this be an issue with his teeth since the retailer wasn't feeding hard foods or does he just look that way due to being thin? I attached the best photos I could get, he is not a fan of my phone.

I'm fairly new to the high tech world myself, I just started injecting co2 not to long ago. From my understanding surface agitation is going to depend on your co2 injection rate. if your injecting a higher rate of co2 you are going to want a lot of surface agitation to allow the co2 to gas off. if you are injecting a lower rate of co2 you are probably going to want less agitation to help keep the co2 suspended in the water column for more time before gassing off. Also are measuring your co2 levels in your aquarium? on my 20 long with level of surface agitation, I'm injecting roughly 2bps to get me at 30ppm co2 at around 10am.

looks like it could be ich to me. Also Corydoras as well as most other 'armored catfish' seem to be much more resistant to Ich than most other fish.

I don't think you do lol when my ember tetras were in my planted 75 one went missing for about a 3-4 days. I just assumed something happened to him and the cleanup crew took care of him since I couldn't find any remains. Then one day during feeding time, all the ember tetras were there again! guess he was just play a really good game of hide and seek!

If its brown like a tea color it is tannins. Do you know what type of driftwood it is you have? Malaysian driftwood from my experience has always leached more tannins than most, it will slow down, but will never stop. as the wood breaks down and decomposes it will leach tannins.

Do you happen to have a picture of your tank? to me it just sounds like tannins from your driftwood. depending on the type of wood I believe some leach more tannins than others.

I'm personally a fan of Kens Fish foods, I know they make a variety of pellets and flakes. I'm currently feeding my BP their 3.5mm premium floating cichlid pellet, but I'm wanting to try the Xtreme aquatic foods that the coop sells, I imagine Cory has done a lot of testing if he is selling it and believes it to be a good product.

@Mitch Norton sorry to hear about your go of things lately, but from reading your journal I think your tank has been shaken up to much to try to do the less frequent water change method for the time being. I saw that you treated your tank recently and as a result it looks like it might have caused your tank to do a mini cycle, especially if your getting nitrite readings. I do have a couple of additional questions though. - According to your journal you are running 2 large sponge filters and a canister filter? is that still the case and if so when was the last time you serviced your canister filter? You said you starved off the BBA and GSA, just wondering if you removed the BBA manually or if your canister filtered it out and is now decomposing and causing a nitrate spike? - What is your water source and what is the reading from it? any nitrites or nitrates in your water source? Also I think as far as dosing goes once you get your nitrites/nitrates under control I would go to a steady routine of dosing. Easy green says its suppose to be 1 pump / 10 gallons, so I would dose 8 pumps per week for low light and then go from there. I'm assuming that you are getting the 20PPM nitrate from this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWBBtV6mAvw&t=94s) which I take as not dosing till you hit 20ppm nitrate, but dosing 20ppm nitrate of easy green. so if you test your water and you have 10ppm nitrate then dose till you get 30ppm nitrate?

looks like snail eggs to me, maybe ramshorn or bladder snail eggs. Do you have any snails in your tank?

@Twichd No problem! I became the accidental owner of one of these. somehow he hitched a ride in some plants I got from my LFS and I found him cause the noise they make when they are out of water. I have since rehomed him, but they are cool fish when you get to see them!

spotted raphael catfish aka talking catfish (agamyxis pectinifrons)

usually when you get stem plants they are clippings so you need to get them to grow roots before planting them or you can get melting like this at the bottom. I like to just let my lead bunches of stems float on the substrate in my tank for a couple days till I see roots start and some new growth on top then ill plant them. I would take the ones that are melting and cut them above where the melting is happening to give the plant a fresh section and then just let it float above your substrate till you see some roots sprouting and try to plant again.