The Puffer Forum

My F8 today seemed to be breathing hard, after looking closer I noticed that only one gill was opening and closing. He still has a great appetite, but today I admit he did scare me when he "doyed" out for a while in the late afternoon, darkened up and curled up on the floor of the aquarium kind of nose to the ground...but then he started swimming around and did so the rest of the day til lights out. My ammonia is 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5, Ph 8.0 SG 1.004, tankmates 2 BBGs.

I don't see anything coming from the gils, spots anywhere, nothing...just the closed gill thing and the "doy".

Any idea or experience with either or both of these things?

We've seen gilling on one side from several of our puffers. Another interesting habit is inhaling on one gill and exhaling on the other with mouth tightly closed. If your fish breaths on the same side all the time it could be gill flukes or some other gill irritation. What we'd do is keep an eye on it for a few days and see. We're not as experienced with puffers as some of the other people here, so others may have some better advice.

Thanks for the reply,
I am glad others have seen this behavior, not so glad it has affected anyones pets.

Keith