Odd GSP activity, Unsure of Diagnosis

[saltyh2o]

Hello All,

I will start by listing my parameters and then give a brief history of my tank/puffer status.

Tank Size: 55 gallons
Inhabitants: 1 Green spotted puffer about 2.5 - 3 inches long
Specific G: 0.010
Temperature: around 78 - 80* F

Water test kits and results:

API Master Saltwater and Reef:
Ammonia - between 0 and .25 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 0 ppm
Phosphate (fresh or salt test) - 2 ppm

API test Strips (fresh or salt)
Gen. Hardness - >180 ppm
Carb. Hardness - 60 ppm
PH - between 7.5 and 8.0
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - around 30 ppm

So history of my tank, fish, and scheduled maintenance:

I used to have a northeastern painted turtle. I bought a new tank for him (46 gal bowfront) about a year ago and cycled it before putting him and his one friend (a bala shark) in. After a couple of months I decided to get some more tankmates, and picked up two GSP's and a sleeper goby on Craigslist. I had been keeping aquariums for about 7 years at this point, mostly with my turtle and didn't know what puffer care encompassed. So one of my puffers died, because my turtle knocked off the strainer on the filtration unit and the puffer got sucked into it. Move to about 3 months later and I sold the goby, and bala shark and moved all my other animals into the 55 gal to start a saltwater tank in my 46. I used about 50% of the old water in the new tank, with the old gravel and filters (didn't clean the material in the filters). Got rid of the turtle, and eventually just ended up with the one puffer in the tank by himself, it was that way for 2 months (FW up until this point). About a month ago He started getting lethargic and had some cloudy eye. Instead of using chemicals, I just decided to raise the salt content instead (with marine salt, Instant Ocean same as my SW) and I started to acclimate him to SW by increasing the SG .002 with every weekly water change of about 15 gallons, and using Prime before adding the salt mix. He recovered quickly and was healthy for about three weeks, then I started seeing the following:

Dark Coloration
Small cloudy eye coming back
Sitting at the bottom of the tank (he was really active before)
hasn't eaten in about three days (will pick at food, but def. not ingesting a whole lot)
Breathing heavily out of one gill, then the other, then both
As I am typing this he has been swimming up and down the glass, twitching and "chomping" his teeth together, almost appearing to be sucking on the glass itself. This is the first time I've seen his top teeth, they look like a rabbit's.

Before the above (top of page) parameters were achieved, I did a 50% water change, and added more filtration (internal Filter). The nitrate was about 60ppm before this recent water change.

Wondering at this point what to do. He has never eaten snails, or fish food when I present them. He has basically lived on a diet of frozen shrimp and scallops, and freeze dried krill. I know I have to clip his teeth because of his refusal to eat a proper diet. I am also hoping to get him acclimated to SW at some point and eliminate my 55 gal tank altogether. Any ideas or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Pufferpunk]

He still eats OK? 60 nitrate is a LOT for a 2-3" fish in a 55g. Where else could it be coming from? Have you cleaned the gravel & filter since the turtle?

[bertie 83]

+1 to the above, clean out the filter media in a bucket of old tank water, that is likely your problem with your water parameters.

[saltyh2o]

I am aware it is alot, yes the media gets cleaned every other week and i vacuum the gravel regularly. At one point my nitrates were at 100ppm when it was overstocked (with the turtle and other fish). I am wondering besides wster changes and nitrate reduction what else to do? He never displayed these symptoms even when my nitrates were grossly over the allowable limit. I will continie to do water changes and lower nitrates. Any other advice? He is still not eating and i am going to clip his teeth tonight. Hopefully it ends well (using pure clove oil to knock him out and cuticle clippers to nip the top teeth).

[PufferMe!]

I'd stay away from any freeze dried food. Are the snails you provide for him no bigger than his eye? Are you feeding raw shrimp/scallops? It's strange he won't eat snails, IMO. Get your nitrates down with a large water change. Putting him in a full marine tank is a good idea, but don't do it quickly, if you're keeping him in the tank he's in now. You need to go slow, so you don't kill of good bacteria too quickly, before you can build good bacteria for SW. Dark color can mean stress. Cloudy eye, is probably related to poor water conditions.

[saltyh2o]

It seems my reply didnt post. But to answer the questions:

Yes, i clean my filter media every oher week
Yes, i vacuum the gravel every week (usually one side one week, and the other side the next week)
The snails he was offered have varied in size from about the size of his eyeball to about an eigth of an inch. I even cracked some of the shells open if he couldnt smell/see the snail. He never has shown interest.

I did have some plants in the tank that were quite healthy, but a few died. I removed them all before starting the acclimation process. I still suck up dead, decaying plant matter out of the gravel, i am assuming this could be cause for the nitrate spike.

He has been in very dirty water when my tank was overstocked (>100ppm) and never displayed this odd behavior. I am clipping his teeth tonight by using clove oil to knocm him out and cuticle clippers to snip them. He is still refusing to eat anything. Wish me luck, i hope to not kill him, but, otherwise he may just die from starvation. This is the end of day four with no food being eaten. Thanks for the responses, any more advice for me?

[Pufferpunk]

Clove oil stops their breathing & cause serious, permanent brain damage. Get MS-222 (Finquel).

[saltyh2o]

Where would one find ms-22?

The clipping did not go well. We put him under, but were unable to fit the cuticle clippers in his mouth. He was sucessfully revived and is swimming around normally again. I will attempt it again in a day or so. I will attempt to cut up smaller pieces of food for his feedings.