The Puffer Forum

hello

i just join the forum today because i need some help with my puffers they are green spotted puffers. i got them yesterday and they have gone a really dark black. one of them is really bad were is belly was white it has turned black. I am really confused. i have been on websites trying to find out what is wrong.


could any1 help ????

thank you

Welcome to the forum/
Was your tank cycled? What size tank? How many GSPs?
Read the article on GSP's in the Pufferlibrary (under the learn tab)

i have two puffers someone said it could be to do with the salt ?? i heard they lose there colour because there is not enough salt. but i have put the amount the shop said its just strange how they have lost there colour. i just wish i new what it was

Please, answer all the questions at the top of the hospital forum. Unless the tank the puffers are in has been running with fish in it for two months or longer, it's likely not cycled, which means the puffers are being poisoned by their own waste. Fish stores know little to nothing about puffers in most cases, so read what you can from this site and ignore what they told you.

so will i lose them ?? what should i do?? is there anything that i could do to help them ??

They can potentially be saved, but you have to do as follows:
First:
Do a 75% water change on the tank immediately. It may not help whats wrong, but it very well may, and it definately won't hurt. Do that before replying to this.
Two: Answer all these questions:
What is the ammonia reading in the tank?
What is the nitrite reading in the tank?
What is the PH in the tank?
What kind of salt are you adding? Aquarium salt, or marine mix used for salt water tanks? You have to use marine mix for brackish water fish.
What is the nitrate reading in the tank?
How long has the tank the puffers are in been set up?
How many US gallons is the tank the puffers are in.
Please, answer as much of this as you can in your next reply, everybody wants to help, but we can't tell whats wrong without information to go on.

Two: Answer all these questions:
What is the ammonia reading in the tank? i dont have a ammonia reader
What is the nitrite reading in the tank? not have a reader
What is the PH in the tank? 7.6
What kind of salt are you adding? Aquarium salt, or marine mix used for salt water tanks? You have to use marine mix for brackish water fish. ( marine salt)

How long has the tank the puffers are in been set up? 3 day
How many US gallons is the tank the puffers are in 50 gallons


this is the first time i have had puffers i asked the people in the shop i brought them from, they said they are a easy fish to keep. but had to be kept on there own. i never new i had to do all this. the shop never said.

You need to go out and get a water testing kit. Don't get the test strips because they aren't accurate. You should also get some BioSpira, this helps with cycling the tank. Continue to do large water changes until the tank is cycled.

You might want to return the puffers and research on this website to find out exactly what you need to do for the fish. It isn't that difficult to take care of puffers but they are very sensitive fish and its best to learn about what they require before buying them.

I hope this helps, Good luck.

Also do you have any toher tanks? If so you could use that filter media to basically instantly cycle the tank.

You have several things working for you here. The fish are probably small, most gsp are sold at under 2", and you have a big tank, which they will definately need. Large tanks pollute much slower, so they are much more likely to survive the tank getting to cycled.

Yes, long story short your tank isn't cycled and the ammonia is burning the fish. When you have a chance, read some of the articles in our library about GSP's and cycling tanks.

Daily water changes are necessary right now. As big as you can manage.

How much salt are you adding?

A 50 gallon tank will eventually be big enough for one full grown GSP.. how many of the little guys do you have in there now?

If you can find properly stored (refridgerated) Biospira, get it, it will cycle the tank for you. Do not other products that claim to cycle your tank, Biospira is the only one that actually works properly. Stop feeding the fish every day, only every other or 3rd day, to cut back on waste and therefor ammonia in the water.

i have been doing 70% water changes and there coulor is coming back they look so much more happy. however one of them gets really existed when i put food in he swims around really fast but dose not eat anything could some one tell me what i am doing wrong ?? and all he dose all day is swims around really quick never sits and relaxes like the other one ?? ow and y dose the belly of one go black when he eats and goes away when he is done eating ?? i am so happy they are getting better


thank you everyone who helped

Did you do any of the other suggestions, like getting a Master Test Kit for the parameters you need to monitor or Bio-Spira to cycle the tank? You also will need a hydrometer to measure the salt content.

You can order all this at http://www.drsfostersmith.com. Get yourself a bucket of Instant Ocean salt while you're there, you won't be sorry. They don't charge extra for weight & you'll be needing it!

Uhmm, this is odd. I have 14 gsp and figure 8s together in a tank, some have really nice bright white bellies and some of blackish or greyish bellies sometimes. not all the time but some. I think it's a mood thing. i have had these puffers for over a year and they are fine. my aquarium is tested and gets the water changes it needs. it can be stress or he/she is in a bad mood, puffers are very picky little things. I only worry when the whole puffer turns dark, then theres something wrong. but just alittle darker bellie or little patches of grey or black then you can just add aquarium salt to help reduce stress. that seems to help, or just let them be.

ok, i normally leave making comments to the site guru's but your post 'pufferfishfreak' alarmed me very much!

14 fish in the one tank.... with GSP needing 40 gallons EACH when full grown, and FIg 8's needing at least half that EACH...

Can you possible ever hope to accomodate that size tank?

They also need completely different levels of salt, Fig 8's stay low brackish where as GSP need high end fairly early on and full marine by the time they are fully mature.

This means in order to keep the GSP happy you will have to move the Fig 8's and other low brackish fish to another tank.


They also need Marine salt to create the correct salinity, not aquarium salt... you are using completely the wrong salt for the tank unless you are purely using aquarium salt for theraputic reasons...?


Apart from occasionally when my puffers are eating, and sometimes if i spook them by accidently flicking the light on to fast their bellies are white all the time...