Puffer Fish!!??

[Honey Badger 1]

Polka dot catfish is a common name for synodontis angelicus which is not a brackish species. There is a bit of information about them here under the fish from Zaire, about the middle of the page, http://www.fishchannel.com/freshwate...catfishes.aspx

I am sorry to hear you found your fish caught in the propeller thing, a power head maybe? Was this the puffer or the catfish? Healthy fish do not get caught in power heads or filters. Maybe with some information from you we can help determine why it got stuck. Tell us how you cycled your tank, with fish or without, how often and how much water do you change, how do you clean the filters and how often, and finally can you give us the current water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels)?

[PirateMom]

The local pet store told me he needed the salt so I bought it. The first one I had was a jumper and committed suicide out the back of my aquarium. This is my second catfish and since I've added the salt he does good??& his friend my newest catfish.
And yes, power head. A friend said the only way he could've got caught in it us if he were already dead or very sick which means he wasn't doing good from the time I bought him, but he seemed to be swimming ok??
& it was my little puffer that died. Which kinda upset me even tho it's just a fish... I was really looking forward to having him around!
I have the power head and a filter with carbon and all...both of which helped my ammonia problem and my tank is clear and beautiful now:)
My nitrites and nitrates have been perfect from the get go, Ph is great. Had a major ammonia problem but all is well now. So all levels are good. I normally change 10% of water 1x a week

[gurglegurgle]

10% is not enough. a small water change is usually 25-30%. I change roughly half of the water weekly. puffers need veryclean water. A white belly is a good indicator of water conditions. If the water is getting foul the white belly turns darker. That is not good. And puffer do not need any companions, ie catfish. fish shops should do more to educate people before selling these fish, as they are quite entertaining and intelligent.

[mizzoutank]

nitrites and nitrates are never "perfect from the get go"

when you cycle a tank-you see spikes in ammonia-then they go to 0, then you see spikes in nitrites, then they go to 0, then nitrates go to 0 through water changes.
the fact that you've never seen nitrites/nitrates means you've never cycled your tank.
hence why you've recently had an ammonia spike.

10% water changes is not near enough with your current set up. if you want your fish to at least surivive (albeit they'll struggle in that tank) you'll need at least 70% water changes minimum per week.

it sounds like you care, so if you want a healthy set up, you really need to reconsider your current set up.

[PirateMom]

Well...... As soon as I noticed all the ammonia I started changing 50-75% water, even broke it completely down once because things got so cloudy and ammonia tests were horrible. But, my fish are fine and healthy- other than the puffer. Now that my tank is clear and ALL tests are good, I only change 10-25% depending on a lot of things. By the way, I appreciate the advice..but this was about my now dead fish- not my tank. So thanks you guys, have a nice evening:)

[MandyK]

All the things addressed to you would have preveneted the dead puffer, so everything was absolutely relevant. EVERYTHING in a tank is connected and if you've got one dead fish, it's likely there is something wrong with your tank....

Everything is most likely 'fine' now because you broke your tank down and started the whole process over.

Watch those tests. You'll be cycling again before long.

[PirateMom]

I broke the tank down probably in the middle of February. I tested everything again last night and all tests are good.