The Puffer Forum

pH: 7.5-8.0
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate:~10ppm
Salinity: 1.018

20 gallons

2 green spotted puffers

Feeding once a day. Anything from live brine, ghost shrimp, black worms; frozen shrimp, mysis shrimp, squid; seaweed.

3 weeks ago, I upgraded from a 10g to a 20g. I swapped the substrate from black gravel to crushed coral.

The tank has been established for a little over 2 years.

ISSUE:
Recently, I posted a question here regarding my concern that one of my GSPs was looking constantly bloated. I posted some pictures, and most agreed that what I perceived as "bloated" was the normal appearance of GSPs.

Recently, however, I've noticed a small ring on the belly of the same GSP, which is about 3mm in diameter and about the size of one of her spots. I have included pictures below. Is this ring worm? If so, does it make sense that she is more bloated? Other than the bloating and the visible ring, she seems perfectly fine. She has a healthy appetite and swims around without any issues.

Thanks in advance!

That ring is the bite of your other puffer. Sorry to say, you haven't upgraded enough. I hope you are planning on a larger upgrade in the near future of at least 55g.

That is exactly how my smaller gsp's wound looked after a bite that was witnessed. PP is right you need to get them into a 55g tank or larger with a lot of decor to break up the line of sight ASAP. Be very careful when feeding as that will spar fights between the puffers. I hand feed each puffer one w/ each hand to curb fighting at feeding time.

Understood. Because of space constraints, I think I will have to end up bringing one back to my lfs. Thank you both for the help/advise.