Hello all. New to the forum. Have found torrents upon torrents of information here. Unforuntaley my first post isnt a positive one. I just had a green spotted puffer pass away today. And im trying to figure out what I may have done wrong. Details are as follows.
29 gallon brackish fully cycled tank
Last water test before passing was yesterday
Sg.1.004 , 8.2ph 0 ammonia,0 nitrite, 15ppm nitrate and 78-79 degrees
Deep sand band of argonite sand a few assorted brackish compatible plants and some white coral rock to buffer the ph
Tankmates are a 6to 7 inch dragon goby, a small fiddler crab, and a small crayfish ( the last two were put in for possible food)
Diet was varied between small snails that I have breeding in a separate tank,ghost shrimp also housed in separate tank, frozen blood worms, and frozen krill.
I found the little guy (that I had for a month and a half) in a cave under one of the rocks. He wasnt pinned, showed no marks that he may have been pinched, and had a completely white belly ( ive read that grey is a warning sign). I loved this puffer and cant figure out what could have caused this.
GSP Passed
Forum rules
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
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- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
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C valentini
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C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
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burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Chicago
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Re: GSP Passed
![[welcome]](./images/smilies/welcome.gif "welcome")
So sorry this had to be your 1st post.
How deep is the sand? Do you sri it before every weekly WC>
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
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Welch4
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 698
- Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:22 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: 1 GSP
- Location (country): USA
- Location: Abington,MA
Re: GSP Passed
The sand bed is varied in height due to the Goby constantly digging, an inch at the lowest ( where i found the little guy) maybe five at some of the peaks he's made. I have not stirred the sand bed as of yet. I had just started to read posts about this agitation process to rid any gas pockets. Not sure how quickly these build or if this matters but the tank was setup and cycled directly before introducing the gsp so 2 months old.
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bertie 83
- Moderator
- Posts: 5298
- Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2011 4:28 pm
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- My Puffers: lineatus R.I.P, South American puffer. Valentini puffer, porcupine puffer.
Non puffer
Danios, Tetras, Redtail Rasporas,
Harlequins, CAE's, Yoyo
Loaches, Clown loaches ,Eels, various shrimp, tangs,wrasses, damsels, chromis - Location (country): Brighton, England
- Location: brighton , england
Re: GSP Passed
Sorry to hear this
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
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Welch4
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 698
- Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:22 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: 1 GSP
- Location (country): USA
- Location: Abington,MA
Re: GSP Passed
So I called every LFS in a 50 miles radius today to find another GSP. The last number on my list, out of 15 or so, had them in. I just got home and am drip acclimating now. Noticing the significant difference in belly size, I am leaning towards the one that passed may have had parasites. Or at least this is only logical conclusion i can think of.
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32773
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Chicago
- Contact:
Re: GSP Passed
Yay! Start treating this new guy right away for IPs. Unless you left the tank fallow long enough for any eggs to hatch & die off or you tore down the tank & sterilized everything.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
-
Welch4
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 698
- Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:22 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: 1 GSP
- Location (country): USA
- Location: Abington,MA
Re: GSP Passed
I am planning an overhaul of this tank within the next two weeks. Ive added in a hefty amount of plants now but the tank is looking disheveled. I'm planning on siphoning the water into 5 gallon buckets. Moving inhabitants to the bucket. Placing the coral rock bases directly on the bottom of the tank, and the underwater oasis, for the fiddler in the tank,that should be here on Monday. Then silicone-ing the upper tiers of rock to prevent any movement. Re-adding some of the sand, I've come to the conclusion there's too much in there now. Then re-planting with some fore-thought on placement. Any ideas for how i should be cleaning the decor and sand during this rebuild. And any ideas for other features to add for this GSP?
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Welch4
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 698
- Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:22 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: 1 GSP
- Location (country): USA
- Location: Abington,MA
Re: GSP Passed
This new GSP is much more active, and a decent amount bigger than the prior. He has managed to make a meal out of the fiddler crab that the last one couldn't break through. And this guy chases the mag-float when I'm cleaning the tank. 
I grabbed the last of the items I needed for the tank overhaul. More pieces of base rock that i am going to break apart to do some cave build ups. Also another two portions of java moss to cover the completed structures. Switched out the Actinics in my AquaticLife 4 lamp T5HO to 6700 white and rosette bulbs for the plants. I know Pufferpunk recommended sterilizing the decor and sand for possible parasites. I am planning on taking a stiff bristle brush and hot water to the base rock. Does anyone know what I should do to sterilize the sand during this rebuild.
I grabbed the last of the items I needed for the tank overhaul. More pieces of base rock that i am going to break apart to do some cave build ups. Also another two portions of java moss to cover the completed structures. Switched out the Actinics in my AquaticLife 4 lamp T5HO to 6700 white and rosette bulbs for the plants. I know Pufferpunk recommended sterilizing the decor and sand for possible parasites. I am planning on taking a stiff bristle brush and hot water to the base rock. Does anyone know what I should do to sterilize the sand during this rebuild.-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32773
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Chicago
- Contact:
Re: GSP Passed
Sounds like you got a good'n!
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"