Hello, I have some questions regarding on my two puffers. I just started housing two puffers last week because someone was giving them away. I bought an old tank that has been running for the last two years with five platies. I started putting aquarium salt into the tank. My puffers are 2.5 inch long and the other is 2". They have been living together since last week. Anyway they are very friendly to the 5 platy fish in the same tank. The platies seem to be doing great. They are always eating and chasing eachother. Not the puffer though unfortunately. Hopefully you guys can answer my questions.
1.) Both the puffers are always swimming very fast going up and down on the sides of the tank. I have a lot of plastic plant, two hiding places and a rock decor for them to explore. But they seem like they dont like hanging out in the middle of the tank. Just swimming up and down like crazy against mostly on the left side on the tank glass. Both of them.
2.) My 2.5" puffer is always puffed up with a big stomach. I dunno if that is normal because the other one is not like that. Also he is black/brownish color half the time because he is stressed out maybe. And he can change to a white stomach right away. The other puffer would stay healthy and normal all the time.
I want my puffers to be happy, not swimming up and down suffering and I don't know what I am doing wrong. I have a filter, heater and the tank is brackish.
My puffers are swimming like crazy
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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ArmyCANUCKS
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t1gerbee
- Fahaka Puffer
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Re: My puffers are swimming like crazy
ok, i'm confused here...
the two puffers are GSP's yes?
and they were owned by someone else.. but now you are now keeping them...
gsp's need medium to high brackish water at 2 inches ... and that needs to be made up of marine salt, not aquarium salt...
So... unless platies are/can be brackish fish (?) then these fish are incompatible.
If platies can be brackish then you need to start using MARINE salt, not aquarium salt.
How much salt did you put in? If it was more than 0.002 SG then you may have killed all your good bacteria and your puffers may be suffering from ammonia poisoning, causing stressed behaviour.
Can you give us some some parameters.. ammonia. nitrite, nitrate etc...
I'd do a large water change immediately whilst testing the water ... then come back to us.
Pacing can be just what puffers do whilst tehy settle in, but it may be a sign of stress, as can the black belly....
the two puffers are GSP's yes?
and they were owned by someone else.. but now you are now keeping them...
gsp's need medium to high brackish water at 2 inches ... and that needs to be made up of marine salt, not aquarium salt...
So... unless platies are/can be brackish fish (?) then these fish are incompatible.
If platies can be brackish then you need to start using MARINE salt, not aquarium salt.
How much salt did you put in? If it was more than 0.002 SG then you may have killed all your good bacteria and your puffers may be suffering from ammonia poisoning, causing stressed behaviour.
Can you give us some some parameters.. ammonia. nitrite, nitrate etc...
I'd do a large water change immediately whilst testing the water ... then come back to us.
Pacing can be just what puffers do whilst tehy settle in, but it may be a sign of stress, as can the black belly....
1 x 90G Juv stars and stripes puffer, Ceylon Puffer + GSP + 2 black clowns
1 x 30G LPS Reef
1 x 30G 1 x Blind goldfish
1 x 30G LPS Reef
1 x 30G 1 x Blind goldfish
Re: My puffers are swimming like crazy
You need a hydrometer to check salinity and there is difference between aquarium salt and marine salt.
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
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Re: My puffers are swimming like crazy
Any news on these fish?
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!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"