Newbie puffer lover

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
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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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Andgio103
Puffer Fry
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2018 12:17 pm
Location (country): Jakarta, indonesia

Newbie puffer lover

Post by Andgio103 »

Hi guys,,,im from jakarta, indonesia,,,greetings to all puffer lovers,,,so here's my questions :

1. I read articles about green spotted puffers are actually brackish and eventually will turned out to be full marine,,, what happens if i still keep in freshwater? Can it still be fully grown?
2. One of my puffer's belly turned black,,, i read about it and it says that it probably an indication of the puffer is ill, stressed out or maybe asleep,,,but its definitely not because just asleep,,,its been about 4 days and it wasnt getting whiter like the first days,,,how do i fix this?
3. My 2 puffers is getting tankmates with 3 lobsters,,,is this okay or its going to stressed the puffers?
4. They didnt start to eating hard shelled snails,,,when is the right time to start?
5. When is the right time to move them to brackish water? Is it by the size or what?

I need any other useful informations if u guys got some,,, Thx u very much in advance 😊🍻
User avatar
Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32764
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: Newbie puffer lover

Post by Pufferpunk »

[welcome]
I'm going to move this to the Hospital Forum, so you can answer all the questions above, in red.
1 & 2. Keeping a BW/SW fish in FW lowers it's immune system, causing disease & short lifespan. This could be the cause of the black stomach.
3. Absolutely not with the lobsters! Either the puffers will eat them, or they will pick on the puffers while they are sleeping.
4. Rule of thumb is snails as large as the puffer's eyes. Or you'll have to crush them.
5. As soon as the system is stable for 2-4 weeks. 0 ammonia/nitrite, <20 nitrate.
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!"
User avatar
Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32764
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: Newbie puffer lover

Post by Pufferpunk »

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!"
Andgio103
Puffer Fry
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2018 12:17 pm
Location (country): Jakarta, indonesia

Re: Newbie puffer lover

Post by Andgio103 »

thx u very much for your guidance pufferpunk
User avatar
Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32764
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: Newbie puffer lover

Post by Pufferpunk »

Your very welcome! :)
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!"
Andgio103
Puffer Fry
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2018 12:17 pm
Location (country): Jakarta, indonesia

Re: Newbie puffer lover

Post by Andgio103 »

is it better to use fish salt or marine salt to make the water salty for puffers? whats the difference anyways?
User avatar
Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32764
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: Newbie puffer lover

Post by Pufferpunk »

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!"
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