Hi, my name is Gemma and I'm new to puffers. I have bought, about three weeks ago, what I was told was a freshwater giant spotted puffer from a pet shop here in the UK but I now question whether he is what they say. He is constantly looking ill, has had whitespot and is now off his food. He had a black underbelly when I got him which has worsened to being completely black which I was told was stress. I have tested the water and I'm sure its fine, zero ammonia, nitrites etc.
Is it Ok for me to post a photo and ask if somebody can help me to correctly identify him please? I fear from what I've read that he may need a more brackish water.
Thanks for your help guys, Happy New Year to everybody,
Gemma
Can you help me please?
Forum rules
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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crazedpuffer
- Former Staff Member
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Re: Can you help me please?
welcome to the forum!
Yes please post a picture so we can identify it for you, also look in the pufferpedia and see if you can find it. Also waht size tank is he in, how was it cycled?
Yes please post a picture so we can identify it for you, also look in the pufferpedia and see if you can find it. Also waht size tank is he in, how was it cycled?
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Gemnella
- Puffer Fry
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1 Tetraodon Sabahensis - Location: Hampshire ENGLAND
Re: Can you help me please?
Hi Rocco
Thanks so much for replying.
Here's the picture of my puffer (hope the attachment works OK).
I looked on the pufferpedia and it looks to me like a member of the fluviatilis family but I'm really not sure and would appreciate your opinion. If I'm right this concerns me as wouldn't it need a brackish tank and at the moment its freshwater?
My tank is a 120L running for about 2 months cycled with a variety of mollies, platies community tank fish. Its got an internal fluval 3+ filtration system which I realise is under filtered for a puffer but I have been doing 50% water changes every week.
Thanks again for your help.
Thanks so much for replying.
Here's the picture of my puffer (hope the attachment works OK).
I looked on the pufferpedia and it looks to me like a member of the fluviatilis family but I'm really not sure and would appreciate your opinion. If I'm right this concerns me as wouldn't it need a brackish tank and at the moment its freshwater?
My tank is a 120L running for about 2 months cycled with a variety of mollies, platies community tank fish. Its got an internal fluval 3+ filtration system which I realise is under filtered for a puffer but I have been doing 50% water changes every week.
Thanks again for your help.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
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crazedpuffer
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 1755
- Joined: Sat Aug 06, 2005 11:57 pm
- My Puffers: 1x Porcupine Puffer
1xValentini - Location: Long Island, NY
Re: Can you help me please?
Your welcome.
I'm not sure what kind it is, some look similar to it but none are really that close.
How big is he?
I'm not sure what kind it is, some look similar to it but none are really that close.
How big is he?
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Gemnella
- Puffer Fry
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1 Tetraodon Sabahensis - Location: Hampshire ENGLAND
Re: Can you help me please?
Hi Rocco
He is about 4 inches.
He is about 4 inches.
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Pufferpunk
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Re: Can you help me please?
I was thinking Sabahensis also. Moving this to the Hospital forum. Please try your best to answer all the Qs above in red.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
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beachbum
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Re: Can you help me please?
you definitely want to get any health conditions taken care of ASAP. Did you mean he still has whitespot or no longer has it?
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Nick
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Re: Can you help me please?
To give you the short answer, he's always off his health because giant spotted puffers don't do well in FW in captivity, they need light brackish. Another victim of the LFS misinformation problem...
No matter how magnificent your successes or devastating your failures, the worlds' approximately 5 billion impoverished people could not possibly care less.
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Myaj
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Re: Can you help me please?
Sabahensis would be my guess on the species. There's just something about the shape of the face and eyes, even when their color is so dark and mottled that they don't look quite like the species photos.
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crazedpuffer
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 1755
- Joined: Sat Aug 06, 2005 11:57 pm
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1xValentini - Location: Long Island, NY
Re: Can you help me please?
Yeah the color was the only thing that threw me off.
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
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C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
Re: Can you help me please?
So now that we have the ID down, what's going on with your tank?
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"