The Puffer Forum

Hello,

I have had a Topaz puffer for around 6 months and he has been fantastic. He is always hungry and is a bundle of energy. However, in the last week he has been very lethargic and can't even be bothered to chase the shrimp in his tank. He seems depressed and spends the whole time lying on the sand. He will take shell-less cockle however. I am unsure as to what could be wrong with him (if anything) and what to do.

1) I had my water tested at my local shop and it was perfect. Salinity is a little low, but nothing drastic.

2) 30 Gallon tank and he is alone

3) Feeding on live river shrimp,live crab, frozen cockle (in shell and without), snails and mussle. Water change is around 3 gallons every 5 days, however recently changed 6 gallons all in one go.

4) Only change is the larger than usual water change

5) Aquarium has been set up around 8 months and has been brackish the whole time.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Does it look like he has internal parasites?

I think if it were IP then after 6 months it would have been picked up by now?

The other things to look at are temperature and the possibility that your puffer doesn't need as much food as he used to. Once they get to a certain size and their growth rate begins to slow they need less food. I would reduce the feeding to every third day or so. How often do you feed him?

Hi guys,

Thanks for the quick responses. He doesnt APPEAR to have anything wrong with him, except for the lethargy. I do have some treatment, but I am reluctant to use it unless absolutely necessary. With regards to feeding, he gets fed every other day, but occasionally successive days. Is it really something as simple as that?

Regards,

Luke

What are your actual numbers for nitrate, and how large is your puffer?

IMO you should be doing much larger water changes. I would do at least 15 gallons every 5 days on a tank that size with a ceylon. If it was full marine and you had a good skimmer then you might get away with changing less water, but that's not very much water volume, so perhaps not.

What is the salinity in the tank?

Do you have specific readings on ammonia/nitrite/nitrate?

Not that I'm saying he has them but animals can live with IPs for a very long time (months) before subcumming to them.

definitely post your actual readings, do some more now...

I'm thinking if they only thing that's changed is a larger than usual water change, and now the salinity is on the low side, maybe it dropped by over 0.002 and has knocked/damaged cycling bacteria... causing an ammonia spike, and subsequent spikes...

?

I am afriad that I dont have the readings as I took them to my local fish shop and they tested it for me. They said that the water quality was perfect except for a slightly low salinity. I was informed that I could treat him for internal fungus, even if he does not have any? Is this correct? Otherwsie I am at a loss - as the water conditions have been consistent for months.

These are a high brackish fish when older, so perhaps fixing the slightly low SG is the first step. Do an extra water change, and bump your SG up by about .002.

what the local fish shop class as perfect and what is correct for a puffer MAY be too different things... if you can get them again that would be great...

.. in the mean time, use a refractor/hydrometer to do big water changes and keep the salinity within a 0.002 range of where it is now, raising it slowly..

Thanks guys - I will try to raise the salinity slowly. He is still off his food, even half dead shrimp.

On closer inspection, he has very small raised bumps on his skin. They are very small and hard to spot, so I am unsure as to whether they are present the whole time or not. Can anyone shed any light on this or am I just being paranoid?

often these are just tiny spines... my topaz (ceylon right?) puffer has them...

can you see any spots on his fins? tail?

No - nothing on his tail or fins.............

The fact that the shop even said the words, "internal fungus", makes me wonder greatly about them.