Porcupine Puffer acting strange

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can 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.
Post Reply
Steph11787
Puffer Fry
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2006 9:00 pm
Location: Springfield, MO

Porcupine Puffer acting strange

Post by Steph11787 »

OK...I started a 30 Gal tank and let it cycle for about a month and then decided I wanted a 55 Gal. I moved everything from the 30 to the 55. Well, I did make a mistake by adding all 4 of my fish in at the same time, but the puffer was acting normal and swimming around. Then I noticed him laying on the rock for quite awhile. Earlier today my fiance` saw him puff-up, but he unpuffed very quickly when my fiance` went to the tank. Then he started swimming around and acting normal again. Oh btw we did a big water change yesterday which is when he started swimming around again. Now, he is laying on the rock again and not swimming around. Is there something I should do, or is he sleeping or what?? Thanks for the help.
Stephanie

~24 gl. Nano-Cube: 2 Seahorses, Scooter Blenny

~55 gl. FOWLR: Clownfish, Blue Hippo Tang, Royal Gramma, Porcupine Puffer
User avatar
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:

Post by Pufferpunk »

Please post all water parameters.
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!"
User avatar
Dinsdale
Figure 8 Puffer
Posts: 190
Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2006 1:10 am
My Puffers: Bak Mei, ~4" Auriglobus Modestus. In a 55g tank (since '06) w/ some guppies he pays no attention to.
Location (country): USA
Location: N. Illinois

Post by Dinsdale »

Porcupine puffers require 100 gallons minimum. How big is it now? Check the Pufferpedia for some basic info.
Post Reply