The Puffer Forum

Hi, i'm Mark from the UK and i have a Topaz puffer who up until now has been quite normal. Over the last few days he has been showing signs of stress, been off his food and been spending most of his time circling the water surface or staying in the corner. I have spoken to my lfs who say there is nothing to worry about nor any thing i can really do. I have tested the water and other than a minimal rise in nitrate all is well.

He also seems to pant alot and whilst circling the surface he swims with his mouth open. Any ideas?

Is there plenty of aeration in the tank, that would be my first thought, might be worth upping it with an airstone or something.

Welcome to the site

I'm moving this to the Hospital forum. Please answer the questions above, in red.

Yes, please answer the questions above.

What is your temperature at now?

Good morning to you all and thank you for your help so far.

All water parameters are ok except for a minimal raise in nitrite.
Tank is a 60l shared with three tiger barbs and a small silver shark
Puffy gets fed frozen mussel, cockel and crill. Once or twice a month i feed him live shrimp, about a dozen at a time. He gets fed daily although i am going to try every other day from now on. I do a weekly clean and 25% water change using Nutrifin cycle and water purifiers. Twice weekly i introduce a drop of plant food. Once a week or when i remember a drop of Nutrifin waste removal stuff
No changes had been made to the tank in the last month let alone week.
The tank has been set up now since May and Puffy only introduced to it after about eight weeks.
The temp is set at 26 degrees and seldom differs by more than a degree up.

Well i think i know why he's been off now. Having got home from work i notice his eye's have gone misty again with the right eye having what looks like furr coming off of it

First of all, what are your numbers, exactly? We can't help you if you tell us they are "fine". Because if you have ANY nitrites, they are NOT fine, and that means your tank is still cycling. Any cycling tank is hard on a puffer.

Lots of water changes, keep that water clean right now. Get us some hard numbers and we can help more.

What species is this? Topaz is a common name used for a few different species, it would help if we knew for sure which one you have.