Pea puffer seems sick?

Dwarf, Red Eye, South American & more. Freshwater puffer talk in here.
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Faunwae
Puffer Fry
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Apr 18, 2021 11:35 am
Location (country): Alberta, Canada

Pea puffer seems sick?

Post by Faunwae »

Hi I'm new to the forum, wish I found it sooner but whatya do.

20 gallon tank
•Temp is at 82
•GH 180 and KH 120 (city water is pretty hard)
•pH sitting around 7.0-7.2 hard to tell with the strips
•NO2 and NO3 both 0
•Ammonia I'm unsure as my test strips don't have that but I'm ordering a test kit soon.
•Weekly water changes 30-40%
•Tank is heavily planted
•Theyre fed daily with frozen blood worms, occasionally ill throw some frozen brine shrimp in but they're aren't as interested, when bug enough they're fed snails as well.

I've had my dwarf puffer tank set up and going for almost a year now, I have 2 adults that have been in it for the most part and recently got 2 babies to hopefully get another female. Lately my adult puffer (unsure of how old as I got them off a lady who was taking down her breeding set up) has been weird, laying more on the ground having a hard time swimming by the looks of it comparatively to the others, he swims vertically sometimes and occasionally will do a roll when swimming.

From what i was reading I seen maybe he swallowed air so I tried burping him I believe I got a bubble it was hard to tell as I've never done it before and seemed okay for a bit but then went back to swimming weirdly. He still eats and is reactive just seems like he's stunned almost? All other fish in the tank are active swimming and hungry. Any help on the situation would be great!

I've also been reading some people soak their blood worms in supplements to give them any they're missing, can anyone suggest any?
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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
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Re: Pea puffer seems sick?

Post by Pufferpunk »

Welcome!
I would imagine it would be extremely difficult to burp such a tiny fish!
Glad to hear you are getting liquid test kits, as strips are not reliable at all.
I use Vita-Chem vitamins.
Keep in mind, DPs prefer to be in groups of 6 or more.
https://www.pufferfishenthusiastsworldw ... vancoricus
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!"
Faunwae
Puffer Fry
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Apr 18, 2021 11:35 am
Location (country): Alberta, Canada

Re: Pea puffer seems sick?

Post by Faunwae »

Update: had to put lil daffodil down this morning. Found laying on his side barely moving I'm not sure what happened but his eye had a cloudy bubble and when I grabbed him it filled with blood. Rest of the fish are doing okay.
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: Pea puffer seems sick?

Post by Pufferpunk »

:rip:
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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