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So, I have read the dwarf puffer site several times and from the sound of things my fish has an internal parasite. He has normal coloration and appears to have no physical damage to his body; however, he lays on the bottom of the tank constantly, refuses food, and is breathing rapidly. If I've done my research right, there is a way to cure the fish of this ailment. I am trying to get as much information as possible so I can get him better. I love my fish dearly, and could really use all the information you can give me.

Please, help!

Those symptoms by themselves sound more like a water quality problem first and then possibly an infection. Could even be bacterial instead of parasites. While parasites aren't uncommon with puffers you haven't posted any symptoms that definitely point to parasites. Those are typical stress symptoms that could be caused by a wide variety of things. How long has the tank been setup and did you cycle it before adding the puffer? Make sure the tank has enough filtration especially with some surface movement for aeration. Then you need to run a test for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate and post the results before anyone can start to rule out possible causes. Does the puffer look really fat or skinny?

The puffers body is horribly sunken in and his coloration is a lil' dark I suppose for what would be healthy, I meant to post that before but neglected to mention it. ACTUALLY, I've had this puffer for about 8 months now and he didn't start acting ill until recently. I also have two other puffers that lived with him (currently he is in his own tank until he gets better) that are seemingly healthy and happy.

Dwarf puffers are a high risk group for internal parasites and suboordinate stress, being that they eat snails and wormy foods likely to contain protozoa, nematodia and even cestodes. They are as the name suggests, tiny fish and even one roundworm could have a significant impact on a puffers health, whereas larger fish may carry dozens for years with no really noticeable ill effects.

They are a territorial species, and small specimens may wane and die in the presence of larger siblings, sometimes despite the tiny size they need room and lots of visual barriers including plants.

Unfortunately since they eat almost exclusively livefoods the only way your gonna get meds into them is either by administration in the water, which isnt too effective, and most meds intended for deworming have to be used this way, as for antiprotozoans, you can try soaking their livefoods in metronidazole solution , and hope they actually eat it. Is the puffer eating at all?

If you have access to waterlife brand medicines id try sterazin, failing that I believe seachem do a good antiparisitic that can be administered by water.

Its a good idea to check the water perameters too, check that they are ammonia and nitrite nil, and nitrate 40 ppm or less. Salt is not necessary for true dwarf puffers, so if youre using it, stop.

Its possible your puffer may be suffering the ill effects of a monotypic diet too, what have you actually been feeding them?

How long has he been refusing food? Was he eating while getting skinny? Puffers can start to pick on each other as they grow up and the lowest one in the rank can become stressed enough to stop eating which can lead to being extremely skinny and all the other symptoms. They will also stop eating quite easily from any type of stress. If he was getting skinny despite still eating plenty that would be a good sign of parasites. You can try to treat for parasites but it's rather difficult with fish that won't eat the medication and if it's something else he could die in the meantime so it's best to rule out everything possible unless you have a definite symptom. I would think if you fed contaminated livefood the others would be showing the same symptoms or at least some symptoms and 8months should be enough time that he wasn't carrying any parasites when you bought him. I'd still definitely get some tests done on both the main tank and the tank the puffer is currently in just in case. That is the simplest cause and the easiest problem to fix.

I feed them frozen blood worms daily, but I just noticed that he had stopped eating and started getting skinny. It could be a stress issue, however, he is the oldest fish in the tank and was actually the fish that chased the other fish for quite some time. I just recently cleaned the tank and possibly over stressed him however, he was acting sluggish before I cleaned the tank. I'll go to the pet store tomorrow and run a check on the water of both tanks. I'll get back to you on what it all comes back as.