Help! Puffer has pink ball coming out of its butt!

[DoggoThePuffer]

The most recent post by 4forddamily. I am not saying you guys other than that person said anything wrong, but they said green puffers are going to die in salt water which is false. Thousands of people have theirs in marine tanks and a guy had his for around 10 years in his! But I am also furious and please dont take this as me being rude, I’m just a bit agitated because I know you all want to help me, but everytime I bring up a puffer it sparks the your puffer will die thing and this is the 2nd time it has happened. The stresses the living heck out of me. I honestly would like and I would actually listen to people if they didn’t start talking about the puffer stuff. I know it’s not good he’s in a 55 gallon, but I will upgrade to a huge tank in under 4 years and he will be fine in a 90 gallon in the mean time. But I won’t get fish that grow huge like more than 4 inches in the future.

 

[4FordFamily]

Ok, so here’s the thing. Fish have different personalities. Even pro fish keepers forget that. If a person says a dogface puffer will kill my green spotted, I had my old Doggo for 6months, they swam and ate together for everything! Fish have different personalities and not all fish will act aggressive towards other fish. Sure when the puffer is at max size, he will eat fish MAYBE small, but what if he doesn’t? What if he looks at them like tank mates. I know you are trying to help but I HATE when people say info that they find offline. The green puffer has been in that tank forever. I did a 10 hour acclimation for him to make sure he would be ok, he has been for 6 months! Even with the ich infection, he got NO ich! He seems healthy and happy, if he couldn’t be in marine tanks, he would have died. But I always get fish that hide in aggressive tanks because I know they are scared and putting them in a tank with Semi or peaceful fish might change their minds about being aggressive. Now you might say this is stupid what I’m saying, but fish have brains!! They are very intelligent creatures like us humans.

How did you have "Doggo" for 6 months and your tank is still cycling?

The green puffer is considered a fresh/brackish water fish. It's highly debatable if they can live in marine conditions long-term. The recommended specific gravity is 1.015. I am not saying it's not possible. Heck, some have brought freshwater guppies up to marine conditions. In any event, providing an environment outside of their natural habitat specifications is probably not ethical, especially with a beginner-level aquarist. Obviously, some things we cannot perfectly mimic, but specific gravity is a pretty elementary water parameter.

Without a doubt, two puffers do not belong in your 55 gallon tank. Heck, one doesn't belong.

You're correct -- fish all have different temperaments. It may be possible to keep a myriad of fish together in a risky fashion, but it's not advisable, particularly given your experience level. For example, I keep many tangs together that I wouldn't recommend most do. A key difference is my ability to admit when what I've done is not working or won't work (having a plan B and C) and moving the fish to another tank. Another key difference is that I have been in the hobby quite a bit longer. I won't toot my own horn regarding tang knowledge but I am pushing an envelope that I am well-versed in. What you're doing is reckless, and inadvisable by any standards. Any advanced level aquarist would never do as you've done/plan to do here. It's unfathomable to many of us that you'd try to shove 3 puffers in a 55 gallon, notwithstanding your other inhabitants. The fact that that thought entered your mind tells us where you are in your marine fish knowledge and you should really consider re-homing everything and starting over, slowly. The bottom line, You're making immensely unethical, irresponsible, and perhaps borderline malicious decisions regarding the fish you are keeping. This is why you're receiving the backlash that you are from many users. All emotion aside, logically this is as close to a fact as can exist in a subjective subject matter. You've essentially left no rule unbroken.

I am sorry you're taking all of the feedback personally, I don't mean to offend you. But the casual readers on this great community should know that this is not how to successfully maintain any animal.

Managing parasites rather than properly treating is another discussion I will table for now. The list goes on and on and on and on. You should really evaluate your decisions moving forward and consider re-homing the animals you have.

 

[themcfreak]

The most recent post by 4forddamily. I am not saying you guys other than that person said anything wrong, but they said green puffers are going to die in salt water which is false. Thousands of people have theirs in marine tanks and a guy had his for around 10 years in his! But I am also furious and please dont take this as me being rude, I’m just a bit agitated because I know you all want to help me, but everytime I bring up a puffer it sparks the your puffer will die thing and this is the 2nd time it has happened. The stresses the living heck out of me. I honestly would like and I would actually listen to people if they didn’t start talking about the puffer stuff. I know it’s not good he’s in a 55 gallon, but I will upgrade to a huge tank in under 4 years and he will be fine in a 90 gallon in the mean time. But I won’t get fish that grow huge like more than 4 inches in the future.

Green Spotted Puffers kept in aquariums require brackish water through most of their lives. Quoted from a website about why Green Spotted Puffers are so hard to raise in aquariums.

 

[themcfreak]

Can I legitimately wonder what age is Doggo? I feel like we are arguing with my 13 year old brother, who thinks he knows everything...

 

[DoggoThePuffer]

How did you have "Doggo" for 6 months and your tank is still cycling?

The green puffer is considered a fresh/brackish water fish. It's highly debatable if they can live in marine conditions long-term. The recommended specific gravity is 1.015. I am not saying it's not possible. Heck, some have brought freshwater guppies up to marine conditions. In any event, providing an environment outside of their natural habitat specifications is probably not ethical, especially with a beginner-level aquarist. Obviously, some things we cannot perfectly mimic, but specific gravity is a pretty elementary water parameter.

Without a doubt, two puffers do not belong in your 55 gallon tank. Heck, one doesn't belong.

You're correct -- fish all have different temperaments. It may be possible to keep a myriad of fish together in a risky fashion, but it's not advisable, particularly given your experience level. For example, I keep many tangs together that I wouldn't recommend most do. A key difference is my ability to admit when what I've done is not working or won't work (having a plan B and C) and moving the fish to another tank. Another key difference is that I have been in the hobby quite a bit longer. I won't toot my own horn regarding tang knowledge but I am pushing an envelope that I am well-versed in. What you're doing is reckless, and inadvisable by any standards. Any advanced level aquarist would never do as you've done/plan to do here. It's unfathomable to many of us that you'd try to shove 3 puffers in a 55 gallon, notwithstanding your other inhabitants. The fact that that thought entered your mind tells us where you are in your marine fish knowledge and you should really consider re-homing everything and starting over, slowly. The bottom line, You're making immensely unethical, irresponsible, and perhaps borderline malicious decisions regarding the fish you are keeping. This is why you're receiving the backlash that you are from many users. All emotion aside, logically this is as close to a fact as can exist in a subjective subject matter. You've essentially left no rule unbroken.

I am sorry you're taking all of the feedback personally, I don't mean to offend you. But the casual readers on this great community should know that this is not how to successfully maintain any animal.

Managing parasites rather than properly treating is another discussion I will table for now. The list goes on and on and on and on. You should really evaluate your decisions moving forward and consider re-homing the animals you have.

Thank you for your reply. The green puffer will be fine in the 55g but if he does seem sick of the salt, I can always get him his own tank as they also grow only 3 inches big. Sorry for going off on you too, as I didn’t mean to be that rude to you. I also cannot return or give the fish to anybody because the puffer was $80, and I can’t find anybody in a 50 mile radius to take him. My other fish are fine as they don’t grow huge and I haven’t noticed aggressiveness towards any other fish, but yeah. It’s a bit hard when I don’t have a car.

 

[DoggoThePuffer]

Can I legitimately wonder what age is Doggo? I feel like we are arguing with my 13 year old brother, who thinks he knows everything...

Doggo was born on November 21st 2017, as on the revcipt of the store, they record the fish’s birthdays that are over $50! They get them from the breeder. But I guess it is like that. Lol.

 

[DoggoThePuffer]

Update: Soooooooo..... turns out my ammonia is at 0 ppm.... I mixed another bottle instead of the two ammonia bottles (don’t know which one I did) but it was at zero when I re-tested it today.

 

[DoggoThePuffer]

Can I legitimately wonder what age is Doggo? I feel like we are arguing with my 13 year old brother, who thinks he knows everything...

“It’s not a thinks, it’s a claims.”

 

[Dilan Patel]

The most recent post by 4forddamily. I am not saying you guys other than that person said anything wrong, but they said green puffers are going to die in salt water which is false. Thousands of people have theirs in marine tanks and a guy had his for around 10 years in his! But I am also furious and please dont take this as me being rude, I’m just a bit agitated because I know you all want to help me, but everytime I bring up a puffer it sparks the your puffer will die thing and this is the 2nd time it has happened. The stresses the living heck out of me. I honestly would like and I would actually listen to people if they didn’t start talking about the puffer stuff. I know it’s not good he’s in a 55 gallon, but I will upgrade to a huge tank in under 4 years and he will be fine in a 90 gallon in the mean time. But I won’t get fish that grow huge like more than 4 inches in the future.

A common theme among your post revolve around your puffers though. One died due to improper treatment/management skills of ick. Did you ever wonder how the fish got ick in the first place. It is possible you bought it with ick without knowing. But it also could have been the conditions of your tank. Your tank is not rock solid yet. Puffers require heavy feedings and thus produce a LOT of waste. If your tank was not properly cycled from the get go that would attribute to the stability of the tank and probably stressing the poor fish out causing him to show signs of ick.

Then you had a puffer with ick. What did you do for him? Did you treat him with copper? Did you try and manage ick(not recommended for new aquarist)? All I know was there was a huge thread like this and nothing got resolved even though the info provided was more than enough to give the puffer a fighting chance to survive. But the outcome was the fish died.

I would have thought you would learn a lesson take things slowly and formulate a plan. Did you go fallow for 72 days? how do you know you got rid of ick? So now this brings us to present day when you have another dog face puffer mixed with a freshwater puffer and other fish.

I do not know what we all can say to get you to understand that your tank is way to small for 2 puffers let alone 1. Especially one that can grow almost a 1/4 the length of your tank. How do you know you will upgrade to a huge tank in 4 years exactly? Never bet on an upgrade until you have paid and received the tank. We as a community want you to have success in this hobby. But we don't want to help somebody who does not care whats best for the fish instead of what he really wants. I honestly tried to talk with you as someone who had hope for you but now its irritating getting the same response from you to all other questions/replies from the vets talking to you. You need to start taking the advice we are giving you or you really won't enjoy this hobby at all.

I don't mean to hurt your feelings but its what I call "tough love". I want to see you be successful but you will not be if you don't listen to people trying so hard to help a stubborn person. My personal advice like before is to restart and somehow sell/give away all live stock and START OVER! This is an expensive hobby and its best to start over and do something right than to continue down a deep,dark, sloped path.

 

[GSPClown94]

You come to these forums asking for help and then argue with people who have given you great advice. You are immature and not willing to listen to anything that doesn’t align with what you want to hear. Mistakes are a great learning experience but instead of making all of these mistakes yourself you can listen to people who have already been there and have more experience than you. Please consider taking a long break from this hobby until you have grown up.

 

[cmcoker]

I will upgrade to a huge tank in under 4 years

This makes me think your around 14, maybe going on 15, and that you think are gonna upgrade to this huge tank as soon as you move out on your own, is that the plan?

 

[DoggoThePuffer]

This makes me think your around 14, maybe going on 15, and that you think are gonna upgrade to this huge tank as soon as you move out on your own, is that the plan?

No. Very complicated things.

 

[eatbreakfast]

... I also cannot return or give the fish to anybody because the puffer was $80, and I can’t find anybody in a 50 mile radius to take him. .. It’s a bit hard when I don’t have a car.

I don't understand why you can't give him to someone because he cost $80.

You were able to get him without a car.

Doggo was born on November 21st 2017, as on the revcipt of the store, they record the fish’s birthdays that are over $50! They get them from the breeder. But I guess it is like that. Lol.

Considering dogface puffers haven't been bred in captivity, I find it highly unlikely that a birthday could be pinpointed for your puffer.

 

[Shep]

Yea, Puffers are wild caught. Your LFS lied to you...

 

[DoggoThePuffer]

A common theme among your post revolve around your puffers though. One died due to improper treatment/management skills of ick. Did you ever wonder how the fish got ick in the first place. It is possible you bought it with ick without knowing. But it also could have been the conditions of your tank. Your tank is not rock solid yet. Puffers require heavy feedings and thus produce a LOT of waste. If your tank was not properly cycled from the get go that would attribute to the stability of the tank and probably stressing the poor fish out causing him to show signs of ick.

Then you had a puffer with ick. What did you do for him? Did you treat him with copper? Did you try and manage ick(not recommended for new aquarist)? All I know was there was a huge thread like this and nothing got resolved even though the info provided was more than enough to give the puffer a fighting chance to survive. But the outcome was the fish died.

I would have thought you would learn a lesson take things slowly and formulate a plan. Did you go fallow for 72 days? how do you know you got rid of ick? So now this brings us to present day when you have another dog face puffer mixed with a freshwater puffer and other fish.

I do not know what we all can say to get you to understand that your tank is way to small for 2 puffers let alone 1. Especially one that can grow almost a 1/4 the length of your tank. How do you know you will upgrade to a huge tank in 4 years exactly? Never bet on an upgrade until you have paid and received the tank. We as a community want you to have success in this hobby. But we don't want to help somebody who does not care whats best for the fish instead of what he really wants. I honestly tried to talk with you as someone who had hope for you but now its irritating getting the same response from you to all other questions/replies from the vets talking to you. You need to start taking the advice we are giving you or you really won't enjoy this hobby at all.

I don't mean to hurt your feelings but its what I call "tough love". I want to see you be successful but you will not be if you don't listen to people trying so hard to help a stubborn person. My personal advice like before is to restart and somehow sell/give away all live stock and START OVER! This is an expensive hobby and its best to start over and do something right than to continue down a deep,dark, sloped path.

So the ich was not from me, I bought a fish from a LPS and the idiot who sold it to me KNEW it had ich! I didn’t see it because it was smaller than a crumb but I saw it 12 hours after he was in my tank. I called the owner after I took it out of the tank and he said, He has ich? He was in a tank with ich but he didn’t look like he had it. So I HATE fish stores that sell sick fish. Reason being it killed all my fish except my file fish and my green puffer. But I am and yes, it’s a am getting a 90 gallon tank in less than a month. I’ll maybe get a 110! Who knows, but I am saving up money and working overtime at my job, but I do truly want what’s best for Doggo! I think I could get away with him being in there for one more month with no more fish being added, if you guys think it would be OK for him, but I would also leave him in the 55g until the tank is cycled too, fully cycled. I know it’s hard for me to listen to you guys even though you only want to help me, but some things are out of my reach. Thank you all for the support and sorry for me being stubborn...

 

[DoggoThePuffer]

Yea, Puffers are wild caught. Your LFS lied to you...

They can’t be in captivity bred? And that’s gonna peeve me off if that is true which I am assuming it is...

 

[DoggoThePuffer]

I don't understand why you can't give him to someone because he cost $80.

You were able to get him without a car.

Considering dogface puffers haven't been bred in captivity, I find it highly unlikely that a birthday could be pinpointed for your puffer.

I have transportation but not a car. And it’s just a bit hard because I hate giving away a fish that I love... but no stores can take him though. I don’t have any relatives except 1 but his tank is a 40gallon and a coral tank too... would he be ok in the 55g for 2 months?
1 more month until I get the 90 or 110 gallon, and 1 months for the cycle to happen.

 

[DSC reef]

This makes me think your around 14, maybe going on 15, and that you think are gonna upgrade to this huge tank as soon as you move out on your own, is that the plan?

Hard to buy a house in Jr high....

 

[jasonrusso]

They can’t be in captivity bred? And that’s gonna peeve me off if that is true which I am assuming it is...

Very few species of saltwater fish can/have been bred in captivity

 

[DoggoThePuffer]

Very few species of saltwater fish can/have been bred in captivity

Did not know that! That explains why the ORA captive breds are so dang expensive!