Black belly

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
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.
Post Reply
tintin
Puffer Fry
Posts: 10
Joined: Fri Nov 02, 2007 4:13 pm
My Puffers: One 5 inch Topaz
Location: South Coast UK

Black belly

Post by tintin »

Every so often Puffy gets a black belly which comes and goes faster than the wind. He seems fine and swims around happily enough even though his belly is dark. It even goes dark whilst he is feeding. Is this just a sign of stress or can it be a sign of anything else? Happiness as well maybe?
User avatar
Hilly
Mentor
Posts: 1903
Joined: Sun Jan 15, 2006 6:36 pm
Gender: Male
My Puffers: Current: Tetraodon Lineatus
Previous:
Tetraodon Sabahensis
Montrete Abei
Tetraodon Biocellatus
Carinotetraodon Salivator
Location (country): UK
Location: Nottinghamshire, UK

Re: Black belly

Post by Hilly »

mood change, excitement, happiness, anticipation of food.
5 inch is a pretty good size for a Ceylon in a shop, have you got a pic of him tintin?
Hilly
dumpythepuffer
Figure 8 Puffer
Posts: 110
Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2007 2:29 pm
My Puffers: 2DP's -bumblebee & pepto
1GSP -dumpy
1-5 gallon FW tank
1-30 gallon BW tank
1-brand new 90 gallon SW tank
Location: Alberta, Canada
Contact:

Re: Black belly

Post by dumpythepuffer »

i was worried about this too when i first got my GSP. its a big change and really noticable. mine usually does it when he first wakes up, hungry, scared, surprised, or happy. i know when hes happy cause hes just buzzing along doing his own thing hehe :D
“We must become the change we want to see.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

http://www.mlfurniturestudio.com/
tintin
Puffer Fry
Posts: 10
Joined: Fri Nov 02, 2007 4:13 pm
My Puffers: One 5 inch Topaz
Location: South Coast UK

Re: Black belly

Post by tintin »

Hilly wrote:mood change, excitement, happiness, anticipation of food.
5 inch is a pretty good size for a Ceylon in a shop, have you got a pic of him tintin?
I haven't a picture of him at present but will get one and try to upload it as soon as i work out how to use photobucket.
User avatar
Hilly
Mentor
Posts: 1903
Joined: Sun Jan 15, 2006 6:36 pm
Gender: Male
My Puffers: Current: Tetraodon Lineatus
Previous:
Tetraodon Sabahensis
Montrete Abei
Tetraodon Biocellatus
Carinotetraodon Salivator
Location (country): UK
Location: Nottinghamshire, UK

Re: Black belly

Post by Hilly »

If you're having problems with photobucket just create a user gallery and you can upload it there.
Hilly
tintin
Puffer Fry
Posts: 10
Joined: Fri Nov 02, 2007 4:13 pm
My Puffers: One 5 inch Topaz
Location: South Coast UK

Re: Black belly

Post by tintin »

Hilly wrote:If you're having problems with photobucket just create a user gallery and you can upload it there.
No problem as such, just haven't downloaded nor used it yet :shock:
Post Reply