Blackish Belly on my puffer?!?!?
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.
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SpockthePuffer
- Green Spotted Puffer
- Posts: 334
- Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2007 8:24 pm
- My Puffers: A wee GSP named Milton
- Location: Connecticut
Re: Blackish Belly on my puffer?!?!?
You want 0 Nitrites, 0 Ammonia and Under 20 for Nitrates
"How inappropriate to call this planet Earth, when clearly it is Ocean." - Arthur C. Clarke
~Shannon~
10g betta & snail tank, 30g GSP named Milton, 55g sw fowlr
~Shannon~
10g betta & snail tank, 30g GSP named Milton, 55g sw fowlr
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FudgePudgeNibbler
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 11
- Joined: Wed Nov 07, 2007 11:14 pm
- My Puffers: 2 GSP's, 1 Figure 8
Re: Blackish Belly on my puffer?!?!?
if your water is ok....your puffer will be fine....my gsp does that all the time...usually when the lights are off....after the lights go on...and after i feed it...its belly is white again....i have 2 gsps and 1 figure 8 in the same tank...and only one gsp does that...
SWF: 1 Hippo Tang, 1 Lavender Tang, 2 Percula Clowns, 1 Chocolate Chip Star, 1 Condylactis Anemone, 1 Haitian Pink Tipped Anemone, 1 Sebae Anemone, 1 4 striped Damsel, 1 Scooter Blenny, Button Polyp
FWF: 2 GSP, 1 Figure 8
FWF: 2 GSP, 1 Figure 8
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Nick
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 3231
- Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:47 pm
- My Puffers: Mine:
GSPs - Shakespeare and Jillybean
F8 - Velvet
My fiance:
DP - Emma Goldman
Narrow Lined Puffer - Ulrike - Location (country): Northeastern USA
- Location: Middletown, CT
- Contact:
Re: Blackish Belly on my puffer?!?!?
It's important to remember, when using belly color to determine the state of a puffer, that it's a subjective emotional response on the part of the fish. Some species are moodier than others(Sabahensis comes to mind as the moodiest of the belly color changers) and some individuals are moodier than others; one may get a dark belly at the slightest hint of foul water, another, just if he's grumpy when everything is fine, and a third might be so cheery he'll have a white belly right up until some bad parameter has him at deaths door.
No matter how magnificent your successes or devastating your failures, the worlds' approximately 5 billion impoverished people could not possibly care less.
Re: Blackish Belly on my puffer?!?!?
UPDATE: my ammonia is below .6 and my ph is between 8 and 8.5, Nitrites and Nitrates are both 0
Sounding ok now? my puffers barely ever show the black belly emotion anymore
Sounding ok now? my puffers barely ever show the black belly emotion anymore
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Nick
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 3231
- Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:47 pm
- My Puffers: Mine:
GSPs - Shakespeare and Jillybean
F8 - Velvet
My fiance:
DP - Emma Goldman
Narrow Lined Puffer - Ulrike - Location (country): Northeastern USA
- Location: Middletown, CT
- Contact:
Re: Blackish Belly on my puffer?!?!?
Much better! As soon as that ammonia is down to trace(will be VERY soon) you'll be able to stop with all the water changing and settle into a weekly schedule.
No matter how magnificent your successes or devastating your failures, the worlds' approximately 5 billion impoverished people could not possibly care less.