The Puffer Forum

Yes defo. Rodi water is only really any good in marine tanks as you add minerals to it through marine mix. Use tap water and prime to dechlorinate. Defo do more waterchanges.

Just to update on her condition. I did a 20% water change, using the rest of the good bottled water I have here. She's sort of okay. Floating at the top of the water with her mouth upwards at most times then swimming down to the bottom then swimming back up again. She does some strange twitching now and again which makes me very worried but I guess I'll just wait and do a 50% water change tomorrow. Fingers crossed she'll make it through this. I just wish I had known better to begin with.
Also I put in 5ml of stress coat just for good measure.

Stress coat doesn't work, sorry didn't catch it earlier. Do you have a pet store nearby that you could pick up a bottle of prime which will help neutralize the ammonia and nitrates that are in your tank right now?

I don't think any store will be open fit now. is it possible to do too many water changes? I just did another partial but I don't want to do too many...

If you give it a few hours in between then he should be fine. Sorry for not realizing it earlier that you didn't have prime, use it after each wc after you pick it up tomorrow. With his situation right now I would say try and do at least 2 wc's a day tomorrow after you pick up prime. Do a 50% in the morning then 1 in the evening, to help with the water conditions, and test the water daily with api to see how the condition of the water is and post the results we need Ammonia level Nitrites levels, and Nitrate levels.

You said he is near the surface a lot, is he stomach completely black or are there only dark lines running down the side of the body where the green meets the white belly? Can you add a air stone to help get some more oxygen into the water? Is there some rippling on the surface of the water from the filter to help with gas exchange? (which occurs at the surface)

Also I'm not sure if you said this already but what type of filter are you running?


Once you get prime you can just add in tap water as long as you pour in prime too. You only need a little bit of prime too, just use the first rung in the cap at the bottom to measure it out but right now half a cap full may be more beneficial. I think the reason why 50% is better now is because you don't want to change to much water at once right now because it may make him go into shock from not being use to wc's yet. So 2x 50% morning and night unless someone comes and says otherwise.

Her stomach is completely white, she has dark lines running between the white and the green of her and she has two dark spots by her mouth.
There is rippling of the water that's being caused by the filter. The filter is a 15-20 gallon Aquaclear.
I suppose I'll wait until tomorrow to do another water change. I'll do a 50% change early in the morning and see if I can get the prime to help its the ammonia and nitrite levels. Thank you very much.

No problem glad to help = D

We are all rooting for your puffer to pull through!

Also that's a good sign! Keep doing what your doing then and he'll be better in no time.

Her belly being white is a good sign? I assumed it was better than anything but the darkness on her sides has me very worried.
Thank you everyone for your help and information!

Use tap water & Prime to dechlor it. I was asking about the temp of the fresh water you are adding, being the same as the tank water.

A white belly is better than black, yes. The dark lines on her side and near her mouth are stress lines.

It'd be best if you went to your parents and picked up the 55 gallon. Then move everything from the 10 gallon to the 55. In a 55 gallon you wouldn't have to upgrade again and the puffer would be in MUCH better conditions as far as water goes. The advice you've gotten so far is really good. Keep doing 2 water changes a day, 50% each. you could even do a 20% in the afternoon, in between the two large ones if you'd like.

Don't add salt to the tank right now, because you aren't using a hydrometer, or refractometer, you could use too much salt and kill of any good bacteria you have.

Make sure your water you use in the changes is the same temperature as the tank, and use the prime dechlorinater.

Best of luck and keep up the good work! =]

+1 if at all possible the 55g would help a lot and you would no longer have to worry about every day wc's because in a 55g tank he would be to little to create enough of a bioload to poison himself at all.

I know your current plan is to slowly upgrade him, but to be honest transferring him to his final home faster is less stressful for him and also you don't have to go through the pain of catching him and transferring all the stuff over to a new tank over 2x

Moving him over to the 55g right now would be great for him too. It would allow you to cycle with him in there because he's to little to make enough waste to poison himself in there, and it would also help you with the wc's too. Finally it would give you more leeway for any mistakes that occur further down the road too.

Also he would act more like a puppy and wouldn't glass surf as much!

55g is the perfect final home for a single adult GSP!

Saragarcia how are you dechlorinate the water in your 75gallon cichlid tank the 55G breeder and 20 long?

Fish update: apparently the water changes weren't enough to save her and she died today.
I doubt I'll be getting another puffer anytime soon. I think I'll just shutdown the ten gallon and wait until the summer before doing anything new with it.
Thank you everyone fr your help and advice. I'm just sorry that a little puffer had to suffer because of my lack of knowledge.

Sorry for your loss = ( its okay life is a learning process and full of tough lessons. I hope you give puffers another try when you are ready, but don't feel rushed. In the summer time is a good time to get back into puffers anyways because there is the most selection of puffers available (they are mostly spring and summer)

Best of luck to you!