The Puffer Forum

Ok, first off I dont know the parameters of my water since I dont have a kit and I take it to my lfs to make sure it is ok twice a week. My last check they said all the parameters were fine with nitrites at 0 and ammonia at 0.

My tank size is a 10g with ONLY Hamlet in it (GSP)
I feed him bloodworm every other day and snails each day after bloodworm. I also put Garlic with the bloodworm since he is not fond of dead food.
My water change schedule is every other day 20% and every Saturday 50%
As for how long the aquarium has been set up its been almost 2 months. Unfortunately I did not know about cycling at the time so had to cycle it with Hamlet in there but he ended up fine during the whole ordeal.

Now for the problem. I swear Hamlet is going blind for the last two days he has been acting unbelievably weird. He swims around in one direction till he hits somthing turns around and does it again and he does it all day until he goes to bed. He doesn't just run into glass cause I could understand that but he hits everything ranging from the glass, the gravel, the skull, the tree trunk, and even the top of the water. I really believe this is not normal, any suggestions?

General symptom of nitrite poisoning. How big is he?

You really need to get your own test kits.

Yeah I know, just been having to deal with new bills since living on my own now and dont have spare money but trying to get it soon.

Anyways he is right around 2" with tail probably a little smaller.

Do you know what your LFS uses to test the water (test strips or liquid tests)?

Some chemical stuff where they fill test tubes and put droplets into the water...

Good. Then we know the results you get are reliable. Many LFSs uses test strips, and in that case you can't trust the readings at all.

Yeah they are a very trustworthy group of people. They also specialize in a few puffers. Mappa and whatever the square yellow one is with black spots. WHICH I LOVE AND WANT!!!! Anyways, So all the information and tests they give me i trust 100% and I even watch em do it!

Time to have them check again.

Well I checked the parameters of the water at the lfs and all the levels were ok...I did notice on my skull I recently placed in there that the 'paint' that was originally on there was chipping off and a white fuzz was growing where the paint chipped off. I decided to take it out yesterday and clean it up and keep it out to see how things go...

Hopefully it has to do with the skull because I want to find out whats wrong. When I first took the skull out, Hamlet went nuts and turned his belly a light brown but went back to normal after the water change was finished. He has never changed colors to my knowledge ever before so it was a little odd. I am also finding him sleeping OUTSIDE of his caves when his lights are out...is that ok?

black belly can mean stress, or it can mean they are sleeping.. removing the skull probably stressed him so he want dark...

how are his eyes? Are they cloudy?

Is the tank brackish? If not, you need to begin introducing marine salt, little by little, 0.002 a week to make it up to brackish...
it will help you fish be happier, and increase it's ability to fight illness.. it will also help de-toxify your tank...