The Puffer Forum

All three of our new GSPs have gone dark as of this morning. We are new to puffers but not fish. Also, one is now swimming upside down and has a very swollen belly. He's the only one that's been eating, too. Has he overeaten?

pH, ammonia, and salt are all perfect. We've been testing twice a day since this is a new tank. Also, the water has been cloudy, but like I said everything tests ok. We adjusted the filter to produce stronger current/more air flow and also did a 30% water change in hopes Bruce will perk up. All three were at the top before we did that, but Chubby and Jimmy have dropped back down and are slowly lightening.

Also, any thoughts on the baby brine shrimp cubes? We bought some last night and are worried that caused the cloudiness. The puffer that liked those is the same one floating today.

Any suggestions and could this be related to what SKarouta posted?

Update: Water is still cloudy, but fish seem to be feeling better. Bruce, who seemed the worst, looks a little more perky. He's had a pretty constant trail of poop and his belly is slowly shrinking. It seems that he really may have overeaten. After talking to my husband I found out that he dropped a baby brine cube last night and again this morning and that Bruce cleared all of them by himself. We've had a chat about overfeeding and hopefully it won't happen again.


Extra air circulating and the water change made the bellies lighten back up.

baby brine shrimp are also almost certainly responsible for the cloudiness, they're tiny and hard to eat.

What about nitrite & nitrate? How fast are you adding the salt?