Ceylon puffer not happy (???)

[Redspotter]

Hi,

I believe my ceylon puffer is not happy at his home at the moment. I don't know why I feel this way, but most of the time she is hiding behind some rocks and only comes out when the lights go out.

At the moment she's about 4-5" (including the tail) she's in a sw tank (salinity 1.023) with a toby, and some sw gobies. I believe she's blind at least at one eye. Before I got her she was put in a sw tank when she was just a little baby. One of her pupils has completely bulbed out inside her eye (difficult to explain) But when I feed her she has difficulties to find the food. When I got her I started on brackish slowly raising to sw.

Now I'm doubting if it still was to soon for her.
I'm planning on putting my Baileyi in with my Miurus (divide the tank off course ) So that means I have a tank I can use for her. The filter on that tank is used for freshwater so it's not possible to use it on brackish. I have some live rocks so is I lower the salinity to about 1.018 this must be enough to keep the bacteria on the rocks alive. But then I don't have a filter on the tank or a protein skimmer.
or I can put her straight on low brackish and start raising again, but slower this time. I don't know if she can handle the change from 1.023 to 1.002. Although in the wild they also are exposed to great changes in the salinity.

please some advice

[pufferpuggirl]

When I moved my 2 Ceylons from the tank they were in to where they are now, I had to take them from brackish to just about freshwater because the tank I moved them to was a freshwater tank, and I didn't want to kill the filter.

If you drip acclimate her, your Ceylon, I think she will be fine. As you said, they live with drastic changes in salinity in their natural environment, so just drip acclimate her, she will handle the change just fine. I think it's a good move for her, especially if she's having problems finding food, it might be good for her to be on her own with no competition for food. If she's blind, she may be feeling vulnerable to the other inhabitants in the tank. So I believe moving her onto her own is a good thing indeed.

Best of luck!

[Flutter]

Could you also cover 3 sides of the tank so she's not seeing the shapes move around her? The shadows may be quite frightening to her.

[Pufferpunk]

Unless you are keeping corals in there, there is no need to keep the SG so high. 1.020 is fine & anything higher is just a waste of $alt.

[Redspotter]

thanks for your replies.

Somebody on the dutch forum ask me if it isn't the light that is maybe to bright for her.
So tomorrow I will make her new tank ready so she'll get a nice tank just for herself. Without bright light, corals that sting and other fishes

[Pufferpunk]

I was wondering the same thing, since she only comes out at night.

[Redspotter]

Do you think it is possible to put Indy into a salinity of about 1.002?
So I can bring my fiter to higher brackish

[Pufferpunk]

If Indy is the Ceylon, they definitely!

[Redspotter]

I put her over in an other tank. Just for herself without the bight saltwaterlights. She seems so much happier.
I had a friend who has a filter on a high brackish tank. Around 1.020. So I took half of her filtering material and substrate.

The tank is hasn't much decoration yet. I´m planning on putting mangrove trees in there.






a picture of her eye, just like there is an airbulb inthere

[pufferpuggirl]

Really great pictures Redspotter! And actually I like the tank they way you have it, I would not "clog" it up too much because my Ceylons seem to enjoy swimming, so I'd leave some swim area for her.
I'm happy to hear that she seems better, that's excellent news!

[Jivenjune]

Haha, that is one cute fish.