The Puffer Forum

Hello.

Sorry for my poor English, but I need some help from experienced puffer keepers.

My Green Spotted Puffer got very sick. Most of the time he is lying on the bottom of the tank,loosing coloration,pretty much not moving, just looking around. When he's trying to swim, the head staing on the bottom,like he's can't get it up. But sometimes he swim fine, but making weird twitching moves, like he cough, or tries to puff up, but can't.

I kept him alone in 20 litre tank (very small,I know).
Now I moved him in 130 litre tank. Ammonia - 0, Nitrite -don't know, Nitrates - 0.
I use marine salt, but don't know specific gravity (still waiting for my refractometer). But I adding approx. 1 tablespoon of salt per gallon. Maybe a little bit more.

I would appreciate any thoughts and suggestions.
Thank you!

You really need to know the nitrate, especially with nitrate at 0. A healthy, cycled system would be sowing some nitrate. I wouldn't be adding salt without knowing how much you are adding, because if you add too much at once it can harm your good bacteria, causing stress on the fish. This could be what is wrong with your fish.

Has your fish been acting sick since moving to the larger tank?

Thank you for the responce!
Yes, he is stiil acting he same. I moved him yesterday, hoping that it will help, but he's still struggling.
Maybe I did something wrong with my tests, I will do them again. Sadly, I only have NH3/NH4 ammonia, and NO3 nitrate tests

Moving him to the larger tank should dilute any ammonia issues. I would not add any more salt, until you have all your tests in order.

Well, yeah. I screwed up. Sorry for misinformation.
In old tank water was: Ammonia~0.023 at ph. 7.5. Nitrate~40.
In new tank: Ammonia~0.015, Nitrate~10.

When I moved him, I added a water from old tank and mixed it with new water in 1/3 ratio.

Keep the tank as freshwater for now. Continue doing water changes, until you show no ammonia at the end of the day. Get a nitrite test kit. Use aragonite sand to raise the pH & keep it steady, around 8.

Thank you very much.

Also, maybe this is important, I forgot to tell that when he's lying in the corner,his breath is pretty heavy.He is not interested in food, but his belly pretty rounded, сonsidering that he's not ate for the last 3 days.

Again, thank you!

Sign of nitrite poisoning.

Yeah...that's totally my fault. Is there any chance that he will be ok?
If so, then plan is the same?Freshwater, changes,etc.?

Yes, just keep the water parameters perfect. 0 ammonia/nitrite, nitrate <20, pH 8.

Hello, a little update on my situation.

I keep my watter as ideal as possible. Ammonia-0. Nitrite-0. Nitrate~10.
The GSP is still not active, but alive. He's swim very rarely and not interested in food.For the last 2 days he was not hovered at the bottom, begging for more air, but today he did it again.
Also, his anus got a little bit bigger and very red. I found a similar problem on the forum, but kind of scared to try anything while he's so weak.Can you explain what causes it and what I need to do?

Thank you

Add 1 tbsp Epsom salt/5 gallons. Maybe he's constipated.

Thank you,Pufferpunk,for your help, but he didn't make it.He recovered from nitrite poison quite well, wich I think was an issue in the first place. But this digestive system problem really got him. He didn't ate at all for the last week or more. His anus was swollen and fins started to look nipped. Sometimes the weird white substance came from his anus, and immediately dissolves in water.

Today, when I came back from work, he looked really bad. I looked for him constantly, try not to give him to swallow the air. But he did. I tried to help him, but couldn't and he died in my hands.

I used the epsom salt and raised the temperature. It didn't help