Hi Guys
Ive had my GSP around 2 months I have 2 in a 60 Ltr tank, the water is fine I use aquarium salt and the salinity is 00.8, ammonia good, nitrate and nitrite fine, although 1 of my puffers seemed to get lockjaw and stopped feeding, he is feeding fine now and happily chomps his food which is a mix of krill and bloodworm but recently he has gone really thin and is slowly changing colour to black. HELP whats wrong, my partner thinks his m8 is bullying him but they have swam together for around 6 months now. please advise have you had the same problem should I separate them??
Jon
SICK puffer - too Skinny
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.
-
Boxermom
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 2182
- Joined: Sun Mar 12, 2006 8:34 pm
- Location: Wisconsin
- Contact:
Re: SICK puffer - too Skinny
Well, the water isn't fine. First, the tank is too small for two GSPs, which is likely causing problems. Second, aquarium salt is not appropriate for brackish fish. Please read Pufferpunk's GSP care article in our Library. Then please post answers to all of teh questions at the top of this forum with exact numbers. "Good" and "fine" don't mean anything to us, we need specific numbers in order to try and help.
Tina
Puffers: Auriglobus silus x1, Tetraodon travancoricus x1, Tetraodon turgidus x1, Tetraodon miurus x1, Tetraodon nigroviridis x2, Tetraodon baileyi x2, Tetraodon lineatus x1, Tetraodon palembangensis x1
Puffers: Auriglobus silus x1, Tetraodon travancoricus x1, Tetraodon turgidus x1, Tetraodon miurus x1, Tetraodon nigroviridis x2, Tetraodon baileyi x2, Tetraodon lineatus x1, Tetraodon palembangensis x1
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manutius
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 1316
- Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2006 3:49 pm
- My Puffers: RIP Clooney the Mbu :(
- Location: Southend essex, UK
- Contact:
Re: SICK puffer - too Skinny
yeah as Boxer says please post that info and we can better inform you on how to take care of your puffs. More info, the better the advice 
Re: SICK puffer - too Skinny
Hi there
The ammonia is 0
Nitrate is 0
Nitrite is 0
PH is 7.6
Temp of water is 26deg
Im running an in-line tank filter and a stingray 40 pump & filter at the same time. he is eating fine but it looks like his tummy is imploding the other fish is as happy as ever so dont think its a water issue as I do a 25% water change weekly ?? please advise.
PS i have removed him from the tank into a hospital tank keeping 50% of the water and replacing it with fresh water un-salted.
The ammonia is 0
Nitrate is 0
Nitrite is 0
PH is 7.6
Temp of water is 26deg
Im running an in-line tank filter and a stingray 40 pump & filter at the same time. he is eating fine but it looks like his tummy is imploding the other fish is as happy as ever so dont think its a water issue as I do a 25% water change weekly ?? please advise.
PS i have removed him from the tank into a hospital tank keeping 50% of the water and replacing it with fresh water un-salted.
-
manutius
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 1316
- Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2006 3:49 pm
- My Puffers: RIP Clooney the Mbu :(
- Location: Southend essex, UK
- Contact:
Re: SICK puffer - too Skinny
it seems to me that nutritional defficiences could be one of the factors here. Krill is very poor nutrition wise and puffers fed on it do get lockjaw as you have witnessed, bloodworm too is pretty poor for its nutritious value. They feed on molluscs like mussels, clams, snails etc in the wild. Though this may not help your immediate situation I would think it is a contributing factor to the problems you are experience. Also the fact that you have zero nitrates worries me as a tank with puffer who are heavy polluters will always have some trace of nitrate, trust me I am battling to get mine down from 120ppm 
Check the test kits you are using as maybe the other results aren't reliable too, they can go out of date. Liquid tests are the most reliable too.
Why are you using unsatled water in the Q tank, these are brackish fish, what is your salinity in the main tank? and are you using marine salt to get the right conditions, aquarium salt is no good.
Check the test kits you are using as maybe the other results aren't reliable too, they can go out of date. Liquid tests are the most reliable too.Why are you using unsatled water in the Q tank, these are brackish fish, what is your salinity in the main tank? and are you using marine salt to get the right conditions, aquarium salt is no good.
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Boxermom
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 2182
- Joined: Sun Mar 12, 2006 8:34 pm
- Location: Wisconsin
- Contact:
Re: SICK puffer - too Skinny
You definitely need to read the GSP care article.
I'm concerned that your tank is showing zero nitrates. A cycled tank should have a nitrate reading. Doing a 25% water change weekly doesn't guarantee good water quality.
As far as them getting along in the past, that may be true but as they age and mature, puffers have a tendency to become much more aggressive, even to tankmates they've lived with happily for years.
What is an in-line tank filter?
If his stomach is sunken in, you need to begin treatment for intestinal parasites ASAP. There is a thread about treating IPs on our hospital forum.
I'm concerned that your tank is showing zero nitrates. A cycled tank should have a nitrate reading. Doing a 25% water change weekly doesn't guarantee good water quality.
As far as them getting along in the past, that may be true but as they age and mature, puffers have a tendency to become much more aggressive, even to tankmates they've lived with happily for years.
What is an in-line tank filter?
If his stomach is sunken in, you need to begin treatment for intestinal parasites ASAP. There is a thread about treating IPs on our hospital forum.
Tina
Puffers: Auriglobus silus x1, Tetraodon travancoricus x1, Tetraodon turgidus x1, Tetraodon miurus x1, Tetraodon nigroviridis x2, Tetraodon baileyi x2, Tetraodon lineatus x1, Tetraodon palembangensis x1
Puffers: Auriglobus silus x1, Tetraodon travancoricus x1, Tetraodon turgidus x1, Tetraodon miurus x1, Tetraodon nigroviridis x2, Tetraodon baileyi x2, Tetraodon lineatus x1, Tetraodon palembangensis x1