Had my tank for about 6 months, 2 green spotted puffers, one died this week and I'm worried the other is looking sick. I don't have any other fish in the tank.
Attached is a photo of him, he looks a little dull and gray. Should I be worried?
I've changed the water twice (about 30-40% each time) since the other fish died, so the numbers may not reflect what killed the other guy. I feed them freeze dried Jumbo Krill.
Details:
Tank Size: 15 Gal - doing more frequent water changes to compensate for size
pH: 7
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 20
Hardness: 150
Chlorine: 0
Alkalinity: 120
Salinity PPT: 8
Any thoughts? Should I be worried? I bought some Pimafix and Melafix based on some other posts.
Lost a puffer, is the other guy sick?
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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flyingpuffer
- Puffer Fry
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Lost a puffer, is the other guy sick?
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J-P
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Re: Lost a puffer, is the other guy sick?
that is all you feed him?
It could be a nutritional imbalance.
BTW.. welcome to the forum!!
It could be a nutritional imbalance.
BTW.. welcome to the forum!!
if you follow me, you avoid stepping in the crap that I just did...
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZR55G ... pqlgec1A2Q
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZR55G ... pqlgec1A2Q
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flyingpuffer
- Puffer Fry
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Re: Lost a puffer, is the other guy sick?
Yes, that's all I feed them with the occasional blood worms (but not very often). Suggestions on other things to augment it's diet with? I don't think my fish store has been giving me very good advice based on what I'm discovering in these forumsJ-P wrote:that is all you feed him?
It could be a nutritional imbalance.
Thanks for the welcome!J-P wrote:BTW.. welcome to the forum!!
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bigfatfish
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 938
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GSPs "Flash" & "Lionel" - in a 55 UK Gallon Bow front Marine Tank with sump. - Location (country): United Kingdom
- Location: Devon, UK
Re: Lost a puffer, is the other guy sick?
He absolutley needs more in his diet - he needs snails, snails & more snails! Earthworms, woodlice, mussel, squid,brine shrimp, cockle - there is a feeding article on the forum - have a read through.
Re: Lost a puffer, is the other guy sick?
Here's the previously mentioned feeding article. It has a lot of good ideas in it 
library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/
Can you provide us with a full tank shot? What is the nitrate content in your tap water? 20 is at the upper recommended range of nitrate for a puffer so if your tap water has 0ppm-ish you'll want to do more water changes
library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/
Can you provide us with a full tank shot? What is the nitrate content in your tap water? 20 is at the upper recommended range of nitrate for a puffer so if your tap water has 0ppm-ish you'll want to do more water changes
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Pufferpunk
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Re: Lost a puffer, is the other guy sick?
You need a nitrite test too.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
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flyingpuffer
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Re: Lost a puffer, is the other guy sick?
Appreciate all the great advice so far!! (really happy I found this forum) 
Not to be pushy, but did anyone look at the photo I included in my first post?
Should I be concerned with his grayish appearance? He switches between been lethargic and been very active and appearing happy. Having a tough time determine if he's sick or not. I'm continuing to change the water regularly.
Had to leave town on business, I will get a full tank shot when i'm back (girl friend is watching over the little guy while I'm gone). A few notes on the overall tank, it does not have any live plants, only fake ones. I have 2 filters running now (added the second one after the puffer died), the new one has a built in aerator. I recently noticed some green algae building up (not a lot, just a few small patches). I did a thorough scraping of the tank sides and rinsed off a few of the big rocks in fresh water that had algae growing on them. I think the algae is because I had accidently left the blinds open when the sun shines at the tank. I'm making sure I keep the blinds closed during the day.Flutter wrote:Can you provide us with a full tank shot?
I'll get a Nitrite test when I get back.Pufferpunk wrote:You need a nitrite test too.
I added some snails to the tank when I left... my other freshwater tank with my mollies has an abundant number of them so they wont be missed. He ate one of them pretty quickly. I'll start adjusting his diet right away.bigfatfish wrote:He absolutley needs more in his diet - he needs snails, snails & more snails! Earthworms, woodlice, mussel, squid,brine shrimp, cockle
Not to be pushy, but did anyone look at the photo I included in my first post?
Should I be concerned with his grayish appearance? He switches between been lethargic and been very active and appearing happy. Having a tough time determine if he's sick or not. I'm continuing to change the water regularly.
Re: Lost a puffer, is the other guy sick?
Grey can be caused by many things, stress being the most common. Make sure you keep your water parameters under control., that is a common cause of stress. Hope you are considering a tank upgrade in the near future, these guys need min. 30 gallons for a singleton.
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bigfatfish
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 938
- Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2009 3:33 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: GSP "Puffy" RIP old friend 1999-2009
GSPs "Flash" & "Lionel" - in a 55 UK Gallon Bow front Marine Tank with sump. - Location (country): United Kingdom
- Location: Devon, UK
Re: Lost a puffer, is the other guy sick?
Does his colour improve when he is active? If so, it could just be his "sleeping" colours - they often take on a duller appearance when at rest.