Hi guys, I’m new here and I couldn’t find any helpful information elsewhere so… Here I am.
I have a pea puffer who I think is a baby but the pet store didn’t really know. I’ve had her about a month. I call her Miss Pea. Usually she has a good appetite, she really loves to eat baby bladder snails. I dewormed her with both expel p and paracleanse (one week apart). Starting yesterday she’s seemed really lethargic and not interested in food. I did a partial water change (about 50% ish) and I added in some more plants thinking maybe she was stressed and it wasn’t densely planted enough. Well, this morning, she’s moving even slower and while I was watching her she did a barrel roll- like she spun a full 360 and then continued. I’m not sure what could be causing this behavior.
Your water parameters -
pH - 7.9
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrates - on the API test kit, somewhere between 0ppm and 5.0ppm
2) 5gallon tank with just Miss Pea and two amano shrimp (the shrimp are fine and have been grazing away), plus the occasional wayward bladder snail
3) I feed her twice a day because she’s still very skinny. I either scoop in baby bladder snails and she hunts and kills them or I crush up a bigger ramshorn snail and she eats that. I do two 20% changes twice a week (I know you’re supposed to do a 50% once a week but I am a bit scared of stressing the amanos too much). I use either stress coat, prime, or betta water conditioner when I do water changes depending on which day it is (I only use prime if my ammonia levels were a bit high). I used stress coat yesterday.
4) Yesterday I added a small piece of driftwood and a few new plants hoping it would help her.
5) The tank has been set up since last September. I did fish less cycling with ghost feeding for the first two weeks, then I put cycled filter media in and then did fish in cycling with my older betta fish (he has since passed).
If anyone has any insight please! Help! I love my little pea.
Sick Pea Puffer
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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beeandmisspea
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Wed Apr 22, 2026 7:48 am
- Location (country): United States
-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32976
- 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
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suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
Re: Sick Pea Puffer
It is possible she isn't thriving because they prefer to live in groups of 6 or more. All her diet consists of are snails? Try feeding bloodworms or blackworms to bulk her up.
Best info on DPs: https://www.pufferfishenthusiastsworldw ... ea-puffers
Best info on DPs: https://www.pufferfishenthusiastsworldw ... ea-puffers
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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beeandmisspea
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Wed Apr 22, 2026 7:48 am
- Location (country): United States
Re: Sick Pea Puffer
I have an allergy to bloodworms and she refuses the frozen ones. I’ll try and get a black worm culture going. As for living in a group, I read that one in a five gallon was fine as long as it’s heavily planted. Is that true or no?
In the mean time, is there anything I can do for her? She seems maybe a little better but she’s still struggling staying upright and spins occasionally.
In the mean time, is there anything I can do for her? She seems maybe a little better but she’s still struggling staying upright and spins occasionally.
-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32976
- 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: Sick Pea Puffer
That could be the spin of death. I hope she makes it.
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!"