GSP has dark belly and is pretty skinny

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.
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:

Re: GSP has dark belly and is pretty skinny

Post by Pufferpunk »

Spock's tank is the perfect example of how a puffer tank should be decotrated! Less than that & the puffer gets bored or stressed.
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
Agnate
Former Staff Member
Posts: 1203
Joined: Mon Dec 10, 2007 7:44 pm
My Puffers: -

1 Abei Puffer [Monotrete Abei]
(Captain Abe)
Location: Ontario, Canada
Contact:

Re: GSP has dark belly and is pretty skinny

Post by Agnate »

Here's a picture of my 55 gallon if you're interested in other decorating ideas:

Image

I have more plants to put in it, I just haven't siliconed them to a rock/pipe yet. :)
Last edited by Agnate on Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Did our staff successfully help you? The Puffer Forum is an incredible resource and is run completely on the donations of its viewers. Proceeds from the Puffer Forum store go towards future contests and keeping the site running. Donations may also be made via PayPal.

- Paul

40 gallon - Future home of Abei Puffer
28 gallon - 1 Abei Puffer (Captain Abe)
5 gallon - 1 Betta (Frederico)
PhoenixAngel
Puffer Fry
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2007 11:12 pm
Location: Wahiawa, Hawaii

Re: GSP has dark belly and is pretty skinny

Post by PhoenixAngel »

I was looking through the Puffer Library and it says you can use Praziquantel as a dewormer. The only Praziquantel available in my area is PraziPro... The directions on the bottle is for a bath. Am I able to give this orally as well? If I soak the frozen food, before feeding? Or is this strictly a water treatment?
crazedpuffer
Former Staff Member
Posts: 1755
Joined: Sat Aug 06, 2005 11:57 pm
My Puffers: 1x Porcupine Puffer
1xValentini
Location: Long Island, NY

Re: GSP has dark belly and is pretty skinny

Post by crazedpuffer »

It should work fine either way. If you have a puffer thats not eating it's best to treat the water
Post Reply