GSP's with Dark bellies

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Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.

We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.

While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.

Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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edmlfc1
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GSP's with Dark bellies

Post by edmlfc1 »

I don't think they are sick but since Ike they have been having a black belly.
The water is amm. 0, nitrite 0, ph 8.2, nitrate 10 . Water change 50% a week.
Tank has 2 GSP's 3-3 1/2" each, S&S 10", Sailfin Blenny 3", Rainbow Wrasse 3"
Tank size 125 gallons (156 gallons with new protein skimmer will be here in a week) +
They swim, eat, beg for food, no sign of illness at all. I just thought I would ask.
The only thing they are doing different is hooving over my lr and taking bites out of it. Looks like anytime I get just a little coraline algea they eat it. They look like they are constantly searching for food on my lr.
I feed them every 2-3 days. When they are away from the lr their bellies go back to a nice white color. Has anyone ever seen this before? Before Ike they only had black bellies when they were sleeping. I have a blenny in the tank that is constatly eating algea on the lr and it seems like my GSP's have turned into copy cats. :D Everywhere the blenny goes they follow and pick at the rock. They are actually leaving white spots where they have bitten the lr. The other day on day 3 when I was preparing their food the stars & stripes started to take large chuncks out of the rock also. I don't think I am starving them, their bellies are nice and round and everyone says I have fat fish. :D They don't pace the glass so I don't believe they are bored. Maybe my lr is just a tasty snack. :lol:

I just tried to snap two quick pictures so that you can see their bellies and the rock. While snapping the picture one of their bellies started to turn white just that quick the other stayed a dark color. Their last feeding was on Monday morning. Have a look at the rock you might be able to see where they cleaned it.
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Re: GSP's with Dark bellies

Post by Agnate »

If they're picking at the LR, maybe they're just trying to camouflage themselves? My only other guess could be that they're still a bit shaken from Ike, as I'm pretty sure storms like that can cause changes in water (since there is a lot of energy pent up in storms), and maybe they're just still nervous about stuff (as we all know how wimpy puffers are). OR they're now really hungry for veggies! ;)
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edmlfc1
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Re: GSP's with Dark bellies

Post by edmlfc1 »

My first thought was the camouflage thing also. I guess I just want to reconfirm with someone else. :D
I have tried to feed them seaveggies but they are never intrested in it. Elvis (s&s) acts like seaveggies are candy. :D He loves the stuff. As you can see in the first picture when I walk up to the tank they rush to the front and their bellies will change back. I swear these puffers rattle my nerves with their little perks. :lol: They are definately entertainment. :D
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Re: GSP's with Dark bellies

Post by Pufferpunk »

I agree. Looks like they're having a blast with all the creatures in your rock. If their bellies go back to white, I wouldn't worry.
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