Sick Porcupine Puffer

[bdrogers2000]

Hello everyone.

About two months ago I purchased a tank that was up and running. This is my first experience with an aquarium, and looking back I think that I should have started from scratch.

The aquarium is 240 gallons housing two oceallaris clowns hosted to a carpet anemone, a purple tang, a blue hepatamus tang, a vlaminig tang, a sailfin tang, and a threadfin butterflyfish. There are also many hermit crabs and various snails as a cleanup crew, and a small horsehoe crab that I am probably going to give back to the LFS, but that is another story.

I have appoximately 250 lbs of live rock in the display tank, and some more in the sump. I have a small ball of cheato and a few red mangroves that I am growing in the sump/refugium, but I don't think that they are large enough to make any difference in the filtration process.

So down to the nitty gritty, I have a three part question. Initially my nitrates spiked to about 80 ppm. Unfortunately I had to go out of town for work for a week and things got out of control while I was gone. For the next two weeks I conducted about a 30 gallon water change. Eventually the nitrates dropped to about 30 ppm. I can't seem to get them any lower than that. I did a 75 gallon water change at one point, and there was no noticeable difference in the nitrate count. At first I assumed that a lot of the life in the live rock had died, and that caused the spike, but now two months later I am not sure what to do. Please let me know what I can do to get the nitrate level to a more acceptable level. About two weeks ago I started using Instant Ocean Natural Nitrate Remover and I am still not seeing a reduction.

I am also having problems with the tank pH. The level has consistently been 7.8. I have been using Kent Marine SUperbuffer-skH which the previous tank owner gave me. This doesn't seem to be doing any good. I do have 30 lbs of aragonite sand that I can add to the display tank, but I am not sure I want to do that until I get the third problem under control.....

There is a 7 inch Pocupine Puffer in the tank. A few weeks ago, right after the nitrate spike, he appears to have gone blind. A week or two after that I noticed small white spots growing on him, this obviously concerned me. I teated the entire tank with Pimafix and Melafix, which cured the white spots. He still seems to have some sort of fin rot going on, which is beginning to rot a significant portion of all his fins. What can I do to treat the fin rot, and possibly the blindness? It has been suggested to me that diet may be a part of the problem. I have been feeding the puffer fortified krill several times a week and shrimp pieces twice a week that I add vitamins to.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions, I am running out of ideas and am very worried about the puffer.

[leebca]

Sorry to hear of the problems you're having. I think maybe before taking on the system it would have been better if you read and learned about marine system keeping. Not so much starting from scratch, although the slow process of putting a system together and taking a lot of time to learn is a very good way of doing it, the alternative would be a 'crash course' in the marine hobby.

Whoever is now giving you advice and/or recommendations should no longer be listened to. There have been a few errors on the things you're doing which implies whoever advice you are taking is not giving you accurate and the best advice. Unfortunately? for you, you need that 'crash course.' Fortunately? for you the information is here. Unfortunately? you've got a LOT of reading to do!

I can point out some of the problems and things you'll need to do, but the details are in the reference posts I will link to you and what I write will not replace the reading you must do. If you come across words you are not sure of or if you think you know the word, you might still want to look it up here: Glossary of FOWLR Terms Also, this is a large link of topics covered in these forums so if you see a topic you want to learn more about, read the link: Table/Contents - Link List So here goes.

A small water change makes a small change in the chemistry you're measuring. To have a big impact on a 240 gallon system that I would guess contains more than 240 gallons, you'd have to change out over 80% of the water. Large water changes should be made according to this recommendation: How to Make a Successful Water Change

Your system doesn't seem to have any corals in it. The only sensitive (to nitrates) marine life you seem to have is the anemone. Fish can handle high amounts of nitrates (up to 100). That said, the level of nitrates is only important to that one life form, and probably not all that important. That said, a level of 30 is probably a bit high for it, but not a danger to it. To control/lower nitrates you first have to investigate where it is coming from. You have the right thought here, but not going in a good direction. I can't go into all that here, but this is what you need to read: Nitrates - Origin & Controls

The spots on the fish were likely Marine Ich. Your choice of treatment using Melafix was a waste of your time and effort. First you need to read this: Why Melafix and Pimafix Sometimes Doesn’t Work. And, since it was likely Marine Ich, this was and is the right thing to do: Curing Fish of Marine Ich

That curing post tells you how to identify the parasite and the curing options you have. Since you didn't treat the parasite, it is still there and stressing your fish even if you don't see it. The fish must be cured of it even if they don't look like they're infected. If you read the curing link and ALL the links it leads you to, you will learn more about this parasite and why what I've written above is true.

A pH of 7.8 shows me the water quality isn't good and isn't under good control. Buffering and pH changing solutions ASSUME the water is in balance. Without more info I can't help you with what is out of balance, but you need to read this post: What is Water Quality. If you aren't doing ALL the tests indicated in that link AND balancing calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity, the water is below standard good quality. When the water is properly balance, the pH will come into the right range WITHOUT the use of corrective solutions.

The above is just the tip of what may be an iceberg of a challenge to your introduction into the hobby. There is much to learn. It's a fun hobby, but it requires patience and every hobbyist is a scientist, electrician, plumber, as well as a hobbyist!

Good luck!

[bdrogers2000]

Thanks for the reply!

I was definitely fit into most of the "new aquarium owners are unaware of....." statements in those links.

I am going to have to supplement my test kits. I have been testing for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, and specific gravity thinking those were the primary concerns. Obviously I have not been doing anything to balance akalinity or calcium if I haven't been checking for it. So my multiple water changes attempting to get the nitrate count down probably hurt the water quality a bit.

I also just purchased a canister filter. I have been running a protein skimmer, but didn't think that I needed both. The previous owner didn't even use a skimmer for most of the time she owned the tank, and the unit that she had when I bought it was not nearly sufficient for the tank size.

I knew that Melafix and Pimafix don't always work, I had read a couple in depth articles about them. I was looking for something that I could treat the display tank without killing the anemone. I also thought that the spots were probably not MI because all of the tangs had not displayed any symptoms and I have not added anything to the tank that might have brought ick into the system.

I will start getting about 100 gallons ready for my next water change, and in the meantime will get the kits necessary to test the water for the parameters I have been neglecting. Hopefully that and the addition of the carbon filter will help.

I have also read in several places that puffers are affected by high nitrate levels more than other fishes because they are scaleless, so that was my major concern. I assumed that the high nitrates caused the blindness and possibly made it stressed enough to become infected with whatever bacteria is causing the fin rot.

Thanks again for the information. I will start doing what I need to get the water quality back under control and let you know how it goes.