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RIP little ones!;(

Awibrandy

Awibrandy

Old School Reefer
Location
Far Rockaway
Rating - 100%
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Just as I thought all was well with the darn fowlr, things started going bad again last weekend. Checked parameters which were:
Ammonia 0
Trites 0
trates 10
PH 8.4
SG 1.020
Temp 78-79
Everything checked out fine. Water is clear, running 3 mj1200.

Saturday evening the little spiney box puffer died, which I attributed to the Dusky terrorizing before I got the dusky out, or to the fact that I hadn't realized that they needed cooler waters then what I could provide.
Then it was the large PT, on Sunday it started exhibiting some dullness on one of his eyes. Followed by what appears to be ich on the back portion of it's body.
Then the ****** started looking a little funny, the following morning it was gone.Two days ago the puffer started looking kinda weird. Yesterday I did a 40 gallon w/c out of 120 gallons. The puffer seemed to perk up a bit so my hopes went up that he would be fine. But no, he went to meet his maker today.

I'm not sure what to make of all of this. Could it be that the box puffer fish poisoned the tank when he died?
There is no way anyone put anything in the tank.

Well I just thought I'd share my misery.

Thanks for reading and for being here when I need a shoulder to cry on.........
 
Pedro Nuno Ferreira

Pedro Nuno Ferreira

Liquid Breathing
Location
Portugal - Vila Nova de Gaia
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Awibrandy said:
Just as I thought all was well with the darn fowlr, things started going bad again last weekend. Checked parameters which were:
Ammonia 0
Trites 0
trates 10
PH 8.4
SG 1.020
Temp 78-79
Everything checked out fine. Water is clear, running 3 mj1200.

Saturday evening the little spiney box puffer died, which I attributed to the Dusky terrorizing before I got the dusky out, or to the fact that I hadn't realized that they needed cooler waters then what I could provide.
Then it was the large PT, on Sunday it started exhibiting some dullness on one of his eyes. Followed by what appears to be ich on the back portion of it's body.
Then the ****** started looking a little funny, the following morning it was gone.Two days ago the puffer started looking kinda weird. Yesterday I did a 40 gallon w/c out of 120 gallons. The puffer seemed to perk up a bit so my hopes went up that he would be fine. But no, he went to meet his maker today.

I'm not sure what to make of all of this. Could it be that the box puffer fish poisoned the tank when he died?
There is no way anyone put anything in the tank.

Well I just thought I'd share my misery.

Thanks for reading and for being here when I need a shoulder to cry on.........
Click to expand...

Hi Awilda I'm sorry for what happened. Just some two days ago, I was browsing through MR and find the thread of your tank "that almost wasn't going to be" "120 FOWLR that almost wasn't" (
multipage.gif
1 2 3 ... Last Page)which I subscribed so that I can better follow it up ...well I also subscribed your other tank thread ;-). I saw you had the Chilomycterus schoepfi - Spiny Box puffer or Striped burrfish...

Any way, some Porcupine fish can produce or are thought to produce Tetrodotoxin, a very powerful poison, located in their viscera or skin as a defense weapon, and when they die or are stressed they can release it to the water column and simply wipe out everything living in the tank. Your tank is medium large which helps to dilute any thing released in it, if in fact that was the case, still it might not be big enough to hold and dilute the necessary amount of a released toxin. Might not have been that but just for caution, please consider heavy filtering with chemipure and/or activated carbon Carbon 123 (
multipage.gif
1 2) and perform also water changes

Better days will come :grouphug:

Cheers
Pedro Nuno ;-)
Post Scriptum: some more links

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Porcupinefish

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=16+2145+2202&aid=1853

http://www.freshmarine.com/spiny-box-puffer.html

http://huckleberrydays.blogspot.com/2008/09/canadas-poisonous-fish-really.html
 
Awibrandy

Awibrandy

Old School Reefer
Location
Far Rockaway
Rating - 100%
182   0   0
Thank you Brendan, Tobin, Pedro, Muntai!

I agree with you both Pedro & tai! I also feel that it is poison. Especially coupled with the fact that when I made such a large w/c the dog face seemed to perk up keeps me thinking "Poison".

This is what happens when I let my guard down.:( For years I stayed away from box puffers because of these potential, but caved in this past fall. Never Again!

I'm gonna mis the puffer like crazy! He was such a comic, would squirt water at me when I sat by the tank.
 
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