is my puffer ill or is this normal behaviour?
Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 12:35 pm
i bought a topaz puffer about a week ago and hes been fine but the last couple of days it has been a bit strange, it will curl up on the bottom of the tank, its colours fade and it dosnt seem to be bothered by anything, it wont swim away when you try to catch it with the net, it basically just looks like its about to die.
then about half an hour later it swims around as normal for a while, at least a few hours. it keeps switching from beying fine to looking seriously ill then fine again.
im wondering if this behaviour is normal for puffers or if there is a cause for concern here.
my water conditions are as follows:
PH-8
GH-15dkh
KH-5dkh
Nitrite-0ppm
Nitrate-10ppm
ammonia-0ppm
i couldnt give a number for salinity im afraid, i have been told to use 1 tea spoon of salt for every 2 gallons, however my puffer is living with some african cichlids so i have added 1 tea spoon for every 3.5 gallons.
the tank holds 190 litres, has quite alot of plant growth, 2 air stones which produce 400 L/per hour between them, the substrate is 3/4 gravel and 1/4 sand, i also use coral sand to raise the ph from how it comes out the tap.
other fish in the tank are 4 frontosas 3-4 inches, 1 green terror which is 3 inches and a green jewel cichlid which is 4.5 inches. the green terror is quite terrotorial with the other fish but dosnt take any notice of the puffer. yesterday i added somthing called nitrazorb to the filter which reduces the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, the puffer had been acting strangly before i added this.
i used to do a 15% water change every week, i have only had the puffer about a week so i havnt done any water changes since its been here but i will now do 25% a week as i have heard that they can be quite messy. when i change the water i add dechlorinator, african cichlid conditioner (this raises the GH), cichlid mineral, and stability. i will also add appropraite ammounts of salt to the water from now on.
apart from the nitrazorb nothing else has been changed in the tank recently.
i cycled the tank with the frontosas, i added 4 of them at the beginning and used stability for the first 2 weeks, i added the green terror and the green jewel cichlid about 3 weeks ago and the puffer was added last week. the tank was setup about 3 months ago, i havnt had any problems with ammonia beying too high or anything else that would suggest that the waste load is too much for the filter to cope with.
any help at all would be greatly appreciated, thanks alot
then about half an hour later it swims around as normal for a while, at least a few hours. it keeps switching from beying fine to looking seriously ill then fine again.
im wondering if this behaviour is normal for puffers or if there is a cause for concern here.
my water conditions are as follows:
PH-8
GH-15dkh
KH-5dkh
Nitrite-0ppm
Nitrate-10ppm
ammonia-0ppm
i couldnt give a number for salinity im afraid, i have been told to use 1 tea spoon of salt for every 2 gallons, however my puffer is living with some african cichlids so i have added 1 tea spoon for every 3.5 gallons.
the tank holds 190 litres, has quite alot of plant growth, 2 air stones which produce 400 L/per hour between them, the substrate is 3/4 gravel and 1/4 sand, i also use coral sand to raise the ph from how it comes out the tap.
other fish in the tank are 4 frontosas 3-4 inches, 1 green terror which is 3 inches and a green jewel cichlid which is 4.5 inches. the green terror is quite terrotorial with the other fish but dosnt take any notice of the puffer. yesterday i added somthing called nitrazorb to the filter which reduces the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, the puffer had been acting strangly before i added this.
i used to do a 15% water change every week, i have only had the puffer about a week so i havnt done any water changes since its been here but i will now do 25% a week as i have heard that they can be quite messy. when i change the water i add dechlorinator, african cichlid conditioner (this raises the GH), cichlid mineral, and stability. i will also add appropraite ammounts of salt to the water from now on.
apart from the nitrazorb nothing else has been changed in the tank recently.
i cycled the tank with the frontosas, i added 4 of them at the beginning and used stability for the first 2 weeks, i added the green terror and the green jewel cichlid about 3 weeks ago and the puffer was added last week. the tank was setup about 3 months ago, i havnt had any problems with ammonia beying too high or anything else that would suggest that the waste load is too much for the filter to cope with.
any help at all would be greatly appreciated, thanks alot
