The Puffer Forum

My Ceylon puffer died this morning He'd been looking ill all week and i tried everything to save him. His belly has been going from bright white to black, back to white, back to black all week. He had been hovering along the bottom alot all week which wasnt normal for him. He was eating normally though and as i say his belly was white half the time.
I have been doing 40% water changes twice this week to give him some clean water, but my parameters seem normal.

1)Tank size: 40 US gallons. 4-5" Ceylon puffer on his own.
2)Feed once every 2-3 days on a mixture of mussels, bloodworm, gutloaded shrimp, krill, snails etc. 40% water change 1-2 times per week of 40%. Adding dechlorinator and marine salt to each water change. Temperature 80f.
3) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. None that I can think of.
4)How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? - about 6 months. Had other fish in it before.
5)Water parameters: Ammonia 0 , Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10. Salinity: 0.010. (I test these twice a week to make sure they are normal).


Any ideas anyone why he died? Or is it just one of those things?

Sounds like you did nothing wrong. Sorry for your loss. Maybe he was one of those fish that was caught with cyanide.
If that's the case there was nothing you could have done to save him. I wish there was some sort of way we could test for it, just to put our minds at ease when we use a friend.

I am sorry for your lost. To be honest with you.....sometimes we do nothing wrong and they pass away anyway. I've heard of stories similiar to this one where the person keeps the tank in tip top shape and suddenly their favorite fish just gets sick and dies.....and I mean literally nothing wrong like no IP's no nothing....Its just nature sometimes. Survival of the fittest I guess.

Ah that sucks
I chose him cos he was the healthiest Ceylon in the store. He was the only one without rotting fins or holes in him and he had a bright white belly and really active, whereas the others all had dark bellies.

Sorry for your loss, Indie.

Just re-checked the temperature of the tank and it was at 86f. Could this have caused my ceylon to die? Ive got airstones running constantly to make sure there surface water is agitated to ensure there is enough oxygen in the water.

Well in the Pufferpedia it says that they can take as their normal water temperature up to 84 degrees, and 86 is not that far above that. However if the temperature shot up really quickly, maybe that would've done it, but I can't help but thinking that a fish found in the tropics should be able to withstand 86 degree water for at least a little while. Sorry you lost your ceylon.

I doubt that's what killed him. I accidentally put my temp in the tank too high one day while refilling. It got up to about 89.
This was over a 20 min. period. It dropped down to 72 so I turned on the hot water to warm it up a bit then it shot up to 89 before I knew it, my puffer was fine and I didn't loose none of the guppies. My saltwater tank is always in the high 80's without a heater. And I don't have a chiller, it's been that way for almost a year now. I think it had to be the way the puffer was caught. It's not your fault or anything you did or didn't do.

I am sorry for your loss.

That's so sad... I know how you feel. Sometimes we try to treat them the best we can & they still die on us.