help! puffer in trouble!

[aquacrazy013]

i have a 33gallon tank with dogface puffer, lunare wrasse, hermit, and 2 convicts. i just introduced niger trigger with out any fish issues 2 days ago. checked all my tests -everything cherry. Then, when I woke up this morning my dogface had turned dark and was heaving breathing heavily. i quickly checked my tests
salt: normal
ph: had dropped majorly overnight to barely 8.0
ammonia: .25-.5ish still
nitirites were suddlenly back
I did almost 50% water change, added marine ph buffer, added some stress coat after just to make sure. checked my tests later and Ph was back to normal, nitirites were 1/2 as high, still to high tho, and ammonia was the same. My fish seemed ok though, Puffer had gotten better and was breathing much better and was almost back to normal color. Then I left for dinner, returning a couple hours later, and puffer is back heaving breathing again -horribly. and i dont know what to do because I alreadly tried water change... water change again tomorrrow? what else? please help.

thank you.

[The R/C Man]

Welcome to Reefland!

Unfortunately I am not a fish expert. But there are others here that can help narrow down the problem.

It could possible be the onset of ick. Steve is the resident expert on that.

You need to work on getting your nitrates down as well as your ammonia.

Are you planning to move the trigger, puffer and tangs into a larger tank? They all can exceed 10" in length and require a tank of at least 100 gallons. So as it sits your tank is way over crowded. That will make keeping the parameters in check even more difficult. You will also start to see aggression amoung the fish as they fight for space.

Are you running a skimmer?

[leebca]

The tank is significantly too small for those fishes. It isn't a matter of getting a larger one later. A too-small tank creates a low level of chronic stress on the fish that shortens its life and threatens its health.

The then addition of the last fish was 'over the top' for that tank and its bio system. The result was the bio filter couldn't keep up; the pH buffer was losing its battle with the decay and bacterial growth.

Even a small pH change (up or down) of as little as 0.05 units is enough to seriously stress some fishes. Generally, you don't want a pH change of more than 0.05 pH units to occur in less than 18 hours.

You can go on making two or three water changes every day or you can return the tank to an acceptable bio-load for the system you have set up. At least one, preferably two, fishes have got to go. I'd recommend you sell them or return them to the LFS for dry goods credit.

[Huma Huma65651]

Agreed, A dogface puffer needs at least a 90 gallon aquarium and the niger needs at least a 75 gallon, and the lunare wrasse needs at least a 75 gallon. You will need at least a 90 gallon for all of these fish.