The Puffer Forum

Nothing ever sprayed around the tank, I clean the front occasionally with vinegar on a paper towel but that's it. Hard to find live worms around here but I will see what I can do, I would have thought that the ghost shrimp I added would have revved up his appetite. I will just have to continue to monitor and keep my fingers crossed. Thanks.

Look for worms at Walmart, near the fish pole section. There should be 2 sizes available.

Oh earthworms, really!? would have never thought of that, there are a number of bait shops around that sell red worms as bait. I will look into it. What vitamins do you soak your puffer food in? Thanks again!

Vita-Chem
Probably wouldn't work for worms, though.

Poor guy seems like he's taking a turn for the worse, barely swimming and when he does he shakes and flips around pretty violently. Put a worm right in front of him and he swims away from it, unfortunately I've run out of things I can do for him and succum to letting nature take its course.

Huge+1 to Pufferpunk's comments above.

Unfortunately, the pH test tells you very little about alkalinity/carbonate hardness. I would never attempt to run a low-end BW tank without the test for carbonate hardness. That is every bit as important as the salinity IME, and may be more important. IME, low BW tanks w/puffers tend to be unstable and the fish are definitely harmed by that instability. All of my low BW density tanks have used aragonite sand to assist in support of the needed alkalinity. For me to get full lifespan out of these fish, stable alkalinity is every bit as important as the salinity and possibly more so. These are not short-lived fish in stable carbonate hardness, but normal nitrification eats carbonate hardness - that material is used up as part of normal nitrification. In FW and light BW, we must replenish that material routinely. High bioload fish will never be stable without alkalinity support. That can be done with the right substrate or by high-volume water partials (50% or more weekly) and/or supplement added to the make-up water or by soluble substrate, or both. When supplementing make-up water, you must be careful not to osmotically shock the fish as well. Unstable tank conditions are not good for captive fish.

Anyone have any ideas on how to help this poor puffer? Did he perk up at all after your last WC?

No he did not and thank you for asking Pufferpunk, he is slowly getting worse and RTR's alkalinity sermons are not helping, not lashing out but again not of any help at this point. I understood after the first reply. Thanks all and take care

I'm so sorry... How long have you had him? I'm sure you feel totally helpless right now.

Are there any air fresheners in the room? No deodorants used etc? Try a couple more large water changes you would be amazed what they can do for a poorly fish, even if everything seems good it can help sometimes. Don't give up, rack your brain on household activities etc, small things can sometimes cause aquatic problems. For example if you have been gardening using fertilisers/ pesticides

Unless there's something toxic in your source water?

I was going to suggest live brine shrimp to get him eating when you said that he was lethargic but don't know what would be causing him to shake and flip-out. If there is an unknown water problem it might be worth sticking some activated carbon in the filter to see if it removes the contaminant?

That sounds like a great idea, gotta be worth a shot for the op. Give it a whirl it certainly won't hurt