The Puffer Forum

I just purchased 2 GSP both about 3 inches in length.

The largest one i have noticed on 2 occasions that he will curl himself to his right and pull his tail to his side and not move his right fin for a minuet or two. He will float around a little but no real swimming and he breaths rapidly...Can he be having a seizure? He doesn't seem to move his right fin too often when he is swimming normally too.

Does any one have advise?

Thanks

ok, 2 GSP's three inches each.. need a 60 US gallon tank...

are they in one?

Is it fully cycled?

Is it brackish?


Your fish is probably not having a seizure, he may be struggling with toxity in the water ... breathing heavy is a possible sign of ammonia poisoning..

as is a black belly.. does it have one?

Puffers do sometimes curl themselves up and cruise round the tank, kind of on autopilot, having a little rest whilst mid flow..

but you need to rule out other things before relaxing about this...

Well they are in a 10 Gal for now (just got them 1 week ago) didn't prep tank (pet store said i didn't have too...) I am in the process of moving and will have a 50 gal tank ready ASAP. I just started making the water brackish slowly on a daily basis and am feeding them snails and shrimp daily. These are my first puffers. I have a few Betas and 4 Koi. The tanks doesn't smell like there is anything wrong and the water isn't hazy or cloudy. Both of their bellies are white and since I have been adding salt the little one got darker brownish and will turn green when he eats.

I know these guys need a bigger tank and will get one soon, is there anything else I should know?

if you want these fish to live beyond the next week you need to do a 50% water change daily...

they will both be suffering from ammonia poisoning in a small uncycled tank...

50% water change daily or they will not survive, i guarentee it.

How did you add the salt? Never add it directly to the tank, premix it with fresh, conditioned water and then slowly add it to the tank.

Are you using marine salt? Aquarium salt is not ok to use.

You need to buy a bigger tank, a hydrometer, marine salt, and liquid test kits.

I am using marine salt, and have a hydrometer. The tank has a 10gal whisper filter and I am keeping an eye on the filter, i added extra charcoal when i changed it yesterday.

I dilute the salt into water and then add it.

I'd up that to 80% daily WC.

Seriously....that many water changes? what about the natural bacteria living in the tank? That much volume of water changed that frequently cant be healthy for the fish

Your good bacteria lives on surfaces, not in the water column. I do 90% weekly on many of my tanks--discus breeders do 100% daily on theirs.

what about filtering with a lot of carbon? does that help at all?

how do you do water changes, and keep it brackish?

Add back the same amount of salt you removve. Takes a little math skill. I found out that when I do a 50% WC on my 29g BW tank it takes 1 3/4 cups of salt to keep it at 1.005.

What's carbon supposed to do?

Carbon is like natures filter all...

Carbon doesn't remove any ammonia or nitrites, which is a good thing because if it did it would mess with a tank cycle, but it doesn't make the water any safer during a cycling, either.

There is NO natural (good) bacteria in an uncycled tank... that's the point of cycling it before you put the fish in...

80% daily water change is the only way to reduce the ammonia and subsequent nitrites sufficiently to keep your fish alive whilst the tank develops the bacteria to fight the ammonia/nitrite itself...

read up on the fishless cycling and why it's essential... just type it into google.


How are your puffers?

They are doing good, the ammonia levels are good and they seem happy. I just set up a breeder tank for the snails and drop some in with the puffers daily. The puffers leave no survivors.

There are no ammonia levels that are good. Do you mean it's 0? What about your nitrite?