Hi, I just inherited a green puffer from my roommate who was moving! All it does is sit on the floor of the tank. The fish does not seem to want to eat and his(?) mouth is open all the time. I read that this might mean that their teeth are overgrown, but I can see the mouth opening and closing so I don't think it's the teeth. SHe told me that the water was fresh, so I am adding some salt (instant ocean) according to the directions to create a brackish tank on here. I am still in the process of doing that. The water has a very high PH, and zero ammonia. We do (well, will do) a 50% water change every 30 days. He/she eats frozen bloodworms, frozen krill and clams on the half shell. OH! And snails once a week. Gold ones.
I'm worried. I don't want him or her to die!!! Oh, and he or she is really small, and skinny! All of the pictures I have seen have fat fish in them. I know she took good care of him/ her. (How do I tell the gender so I can stop doing this.)
There doesn't look to be any sign of parasites, but the belly does have some grey on it's edges.
Please help.
New Here and to Puffers! 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.
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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RescuedPuff
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2012 12:59 pm
- Location (country): Vermont, USA
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G S P Freak
- Green Spotted Puffer
- Posts: 421
- Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2012 6:58 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: Figure Eight Puffers, Binks (29G)
Dwarf puffers, named "He-Puffer" (male) and She-puffer (female) (10g)
Non-puffer:
1 Red-eared slider, Tortuga (female)(100g)
1 rubber lip pleco - Location (country): USA, Indiana
Re: New Here and to Puffers! Help
First off, water changes should be 50% WEEKLY minimum... I know, when I first saw this, I thought it was crazy, but it's not really hard to do once a week, and will keep your fish healthier and happier. Whats the nitrite and nitrate levels? What size is the tank? etc. If you cant figure it out, your local fish store can usually test water for you, ask them for the numbers, don't accept "they're fine". Sounds like your puffer has IPs, or parasites.. You need to buy a medicine specifically for fish parasites, like Jungle Fizz tablets or Prazipro and soak the food in it for about an hour, preferably with some garlic juice for flavoring. Treat for about 5 days.
ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Brackish/T_Nigroviridis/
This is probably your puffer.
library/puffers-in-focus/an-introductio ... d-puffers/
library/hospital/internal-parasites-pre ... treatment/
This also really belongs in the hospital section, if you repost it there, and answer all the red questions that are asked, people can help you faster and easier.
ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Brackish/T_Nigroviridis/
This is probably your puffer.
library/puffers-in-focus/an-introductio ... d-puffers/
library/hospital/internal-parasites-pre ... treatment/
This also really belongs in the hospital section, if you repost it there, and answer all the red questions that are asked, people can help you faster and easier.
No human being, however great, or powerful, was ever so free as a fish.
-John Ruskin-
"I have to laugh when people call fish-keeping a hobby, if anything, it's a science... and for some, an obsession." - Me
-John Ruskin-
"I have to laugh when people call fish-keeping a hobby, if anything, it's a science... and for some, an obsession." - Me
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32984
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
Re: New Here and to Puffers! Help
Please answer ALL the questions above, in red.
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!"
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defool89
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 821
- Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2012 12:40 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: 1 Fahaka
- Location (country): United states, Garland Texas
Re: New Here and to Puffers! Help
Their is probably a lack of oxygen in the tank. But hard to tell without the questions being answered. Your nitrate levels might be higher than cheech and chong if you only change it once a month
You have the right to bear Puffers.