The Puffer Forum

i just got a tiny little gsp last night and introduced him into my 80gal tank that WAS home to 3 jack depseys (one very large 7 inches, one about 5 inches, and the other about 2 inches) the depseys were checking out the gsp as i went to bed last night (which they have done any time i've introduced a new fish) and by the time i woke up this morning my 7incher was dead. his body had no bite marks or anything on it and his fins looked fine...did that little gsp kill my jack dempsey? and if so, how?

HELP!!!!!

It's possible the GSP picked on him until he basically died from the stress. Even if it wasn't the GSP, you need to get him in his own tank (at least 30gallons) or find him a new home. GSPs need high end brackish water (made with marine salt- not aquarium salt).

Check out my green spotted puffer site (greenspottedpuffer.net) and the article in the library here for more info on GSPs.

i was wondering if it was just stress, but when i went to bed last night the gsp was just trying to hang out and chill and everyone else was buggin him...today thus far he's still just swimming around minding his own business while the dempsey's are staying curious. i wonder if he changes his attitude at night? also i just noticed a big horizontal black line on the side of my dempsey's...they seem pissed! hahaha

well can i just add some salt to the tank the gsp is in? i dont have another tank to make just for him and i'm assuming a little salt would help everyone in the tank? but it sounds like he needs alot of salt?

You're thinking of aquarium salt. GSPs need brackish water, which needs to be made with ocean salt (Instant Ocean seems to be a good brand). You'll also need a hydrometer or a refractometer to measure out the salt. You can only up the s.g. by about 0.002 each week. But it would absolutely kill your dempseys. There aren't many fish that can be kept with Green Spotted Puffers.

Also if a fish is exposed to aquarium salt over a long period of time I believe it starts to do damage to their immune system.

^ I thought I heard that somewhere, but I wasn't sure. Is there info on it anywhere?

ok well i'll have to start planning a saltwater tank i guess...i've got a 30gal i could use but right now its just got some community/goldfish in it...i guess its time to step it up to salt! i rearranged the rocks and plants in the tank i have the gsp in and made a new place for him to live...for now i'll just have to keep him in there, as i've read they can live in fresh water for awhile?

i'm assuming the depseys will get used to him in the next couple days and all should calm down. i hope....

puffers are so unpredictable you sould move him as fast as humanly possible but putting him in a community tank is probaly worse. so he sould stay where he is at the moment fesh is fine but sould move closer to brackish with in a month or so

ya know i've been watching them so closely today and it seems to me that the puffer is just minding his own business and all the other depmseys are just trippin on each other! i think they are most likely having to re-establish the pecking order due to the loss of the biggest one this morning...the smallest one is trying to buddy up with the others now and they arent having it...is that normal? cause i really dont think the puffer is doing anything...i havent seen him interact with the other fish at all, he's just chillin in a plant or in a corner...

crazedpuffer wrote:Also if a fish is exposed to aquarium salt over a long period of time I believe it starts to do damage to their immune system.

Crazed do you have any reference I can read on this subject? I'm very interested in this.

Sorry for your loss chloe. If I were you I'd get that gsp in his own tank asap.

He couldn't have bitten him to death because

chloe7046 wrote:his body had no bite marks or anything on it and his fins looked fine

The JD ate the GSP. The GSP puffed. The JD spit him out and died. The GSP was fine.

StormySkiez wrote:

crazedpuffer wrote:Also if a fish is exposed to aquarium salt over a long period of time I believe it starts to do damage to their immune system.

Crazed do you have any reference I can read on this subject? I'm very interested in this.

Sorry for your loss chloe. If I were you I'd get that gsp in his own tank asap.

I heard it on another forum, I believe it was the dwarf puffer forum. Nick might know a little more about it.

A puffing puffer is full of deadly spines and can stretch a fish's mouth past breaking point. I have seen a small GSP sucked into the intake of a vortex diatom filter(these have a STRONG flow) and he only got about 1/3 the way up the tube before he puffed hard enough to jam the intake with his body. I turned it off when I noticed, and after the sucking pressure went down, he deflated and zoomed out.

Nick wrote:A puffing puffer is full of deadly spines and can stretch a fish's mouth past breaking point. I have seen a small GSP sucked into the intake of a vortex diatom filter(these have a STRONG flow) and he only got about 1/3 the way up the tube before he puffed hard enough to jam the intake with his body. I turned it off when I noticed, and after the sucking pressure went down, he deflated and zoomed out.

So is my theory valid?

We can never know for sure, but it's not implausible.