The Puffer Forum

Nope, I guided him into a cup because I read that he should not be breathing air. I thought the same thing after I saw him like that. I'm wondering if when he was by the surface he got air towards the top and that happened. By the time I realized what had happened I wasn't able to do much for him though. I'm not sure what happened between Thursday/Fridayish with him and Saturday/Sunday. He just started looking worse and worse, and I treat his tank same way I treat my F8's who's the same size, and he's still doing great. Just not sure...

When you bought him was he in FW or SW? If he was in FW (which is more common with LFSs) then all these changes are going to make him worse, you should have kept him in FW, and done TINY changes over several weeks.
You should never ever catch a GSP in a net, however big it is, even if you think it is dead. It is the most stressful thing you could ever do, and the cause of many an instant death. They are most likely to "puff" when you take them from the water and "put in a bowl".

He was in FW when I got him from the LFS, but I was slowly raising his SG... I had taken him out in a cup, rather than netting him because I know that they can puff when they breathe air.

Looking at the photo I suspect this guy is very nearly a gonner. Perhaps he was sick when you got him? If he has intestinal problems, then no amount of melafix is going to fix it.
He also looks like he's been scraping himself. So get all ornaments out of the tank (they could be the problem, if they came from another tank without being hygeinically cleaned), and if you can, get a small bag of Aquarium sand, and get rid of that gravel!

If the photo you're referring to is the one in my profile, that's my Nibbler, my F8, he's doing great. He is healthy as can be and I did put different substrate in there since that picture was taken. It's hard to get a good picture of him though, he's constantly moving. I wasn't able to get a picture of Chomper, the GSP.

The only thing I can think about Chomper is that he may have been sick when I got him or who knows what... I'm not sure... Thanks for your advice though.

PufferGrrl wrote:
If the photo you're referring to is the one in my profile, that's my Nibbler, my F8, he's doing great. He is healthy as can be and I did put different substrate in there since that picture was taken. It's hard to get a good picture of him though, he's constantly moving. I wasn't able to get a picture of Chomper, the GSP.
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Sorry, my mistake, got my threads mixed up, I meant this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12755

my apologies

When I had to move my puffers, I caught them with a net underwater and then let them swim out into a bag. Then lifted the bag out and acclimated them too the new tank. It seemed to work very well.