my baby dogface puffer died

**godspeed** · 06-01-2011, 02:28 PM

I just brought a dog-face puffer 3 days ago, on the small size. My tank been up and running for like 5 months. I have a medium wrasse and picasso trigger in the tank. They seem to get along well, the trigger and wrasse checked the puffer out and went about there business. I checked on the puffer often since he was smaller then them. Monday i saw the puffer swimming around early morning just having fun and he was eating. The afternoon came and i see no puffer. Looked in the rocks and seen him just sitting in a cave. hours go by and he is in the same position. OK somethings wrong. I moved the rocks and bumped him and he didn't move. I then picked him up and he didn't respond. He was dead. The puffer showed no signs of being sick as he was very active and eating. Something told me to check my salt level and it was 1.016 for those days as i just recently did a water change but ran out of salt and forgot to put some in there. Ammonia level was like a little under .25, nitrate level was 20 as i do have messy eaters in my 125 gal tank. What happened and how can i prevent this from happening again?

**Cliff** · 06-01-2011, 03:17 PM

My guess would be the stress of the lower salinity.

If you drop the salinity by more than 0.003 in 24 hours, that will cuase a LOT of stress on most marine fish. Even if the salinity was stable in your tank at 1.016, I'm guessing the store you got him from had their salinity at 1.023 to 1.025 which would cause him stress. Over the period of a few days, this stress can take a toll on the little guy, not to mention the stress of the ammoina and nitrite in the water

I would get your water parameters in line (0 ammonia and nitrite, 20 or less nitrate, PH of 80 to 8.4 and a salinity of 1.023 to 1.025). That will go a long way to prevent any losses

Also, what do you use for filteration ? With ammoina and nitrite in the water, it almost sounds like your tank is not cycled

**godspeed** · 06-01-2011, 04:14 PM

I have 2 magnum 350 filters with bio rings. I have had fish in this tank for months. That do make since about the heavy sanity drop. didn't think about that. I'm trying now to figure out how to get those levels down. Thanks for the information. I will be getting me another puffer but only after i have things in this tank situated.

**Cliff** · 06-01-2011, 04:26 PM

Water changes will help with your levels.

Have you considered add rock to your set-up? That can help with your nitrate levels. You could add dry rock to your tank, letting it get seeded with bacteria over time, which could reduce your need for two filters.

Just a suggestion tho

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aqua...ad.php?t=76703

**mermaidwannabe** · 06-01-2011, 07:39 PM

I don't keep saltwater, but proper acclimation applies for all fish and all tanks. If the store you got him from had a higher salinity than what's in your tank, you would have needed to acclimate your fish gradually and slowly, so he could adjust to the difference. As Cliff stated, even if your salinity had been stable, the difference between your tank and the store's tank could have been enough to shock the little guy's system. Maybe you did acclimate him, but you didn't mention that, so I thought I should.

Sorry about your loss. I'm sure next time you notice you're running low on salt, you'll get more before doing the next water change, so you'll have enough.

We live and learn ...

-- mermaidwannabe

**godspeed** · 06-02-2011, 02:27 AM

well i didn't acclimate him. I didn't know my salt level was that low. I guess i was busy with my new saltwater tank up stairs. I was totally my fault. I have about mabe 10 pounds of live rock in the tank but i will add more. Now I usually get water from my father house cause he have a ro system for his house.