The Puffer Forum

My tank is set up at 1.008-1.009 salinity. I have 4 GSP's and 2 figure 8's in a 29 gallon tank. The water tests are appropriate and in order but it seems like one of the GSP's belly has been black for sometime and it's not eating now. It's getting kind of skinny now and kind of worrying me. All the others are eating just fine and very active. The black belly likes to hide in hard to find spots. The color has not really faded as much.
What can be the cause of this? I've just changed my tank 2-3 days ago and this has been going on for about a week or so. His belly has been black for about 2 weeks but he stopped eating probably just last week. His tails are all ok so no one has nipped its fins. The puffer is around 2 inches long at the moment. And YES i bought it at walmart but it looked fine when it was in the aquarium. I've had the tank for about 2 months now. Even if I show him live bloodworms or anything of sort, it does not like it and swims away or totally ignores it. Anyone has a clue on how to fix this?

Do a 50% water change asap.
Please answer all the above questions in red. particularly the water parameters one... I have a feeling that will be your problem.

Your tank is way over stocked. For example, even as juvies, I don't recommend <10g/GSP & 30g ea, as adults. Please read the articles on these 2 species in our Library. There is also an article on treating internal parasites but if they don't get into the proper-sized tank, no amount of treatment or water changes will save them from the overcrowding & stress they are feeling.

This is the result from what I have:
Ammonia: .25
Nitrate: 0-.5
hardness: 300
alkalinity: 300
ph: 8.4-8.8

See anything based on this? Please!!

You shouldn't have any Ammonia in there. When did you take this reading? Do you have a test for nitrite? If not you need to get one and test that as well.

i will have to dig up the test result from the trash can. probably didn't type the nitrite solutions in there darn it.
The readings i got was from AFTER doing a 50% water change. There are no live plants or anything in the tank.

puffer626 wrote:i will have to dig up the test result from the trash can.

Are you using test strips? if so, you should really get a liquid test kit.
what did you mean when you said you changed your tank? Have you changed the SG recently?

the salinity is still hovering around 1.009-1.01.

No I mean have you changed it more than .002 recently?
And the tests?
sorry if it seems like you're being pestered. we just want to help you and your fish.

Pufferpunk's reply is a big one too. do you have a way of separating some of them? maybe get you LFS to help?

i've kept it at around 1.008-1.009 for like 2-3 weeks i think. i was sick so i wasn't able to change the water during that time. The nitrite looks like it's around .25. I was just doing the one inch per gallon rule, GSPx3 = 6"x3 = 18 and 2 figure 8's that's = 6" in total.. Total is 24 inches for 29 gallons. Right now my fish it's still black bellied, but not as black. At least I can see some whites on the belly but still skinny.



And yes I'm using test strips.

The 1"/g rule is for 1-2" slender fish. Only small fish <2", like a guppy or zebra danio, not for large-massed fish like a puffer. Imagine a 10" oscar in a 10g tank! You MUST do something ASAP about your overstocking issue or you will lose them all.

How was this tank cycled? Can you return most of these fish to your LFS? If the tank has been properly cycled, it would be perfect for the 2 F8s.

biospira cycled

Whew! Well, at least that's covered. Now to find homes (or return) the GSPs. Unless you happen to have another tank around you can cycle with more B-S (minimum 55g, IMO for the 4 juvies, although you're going to need at least a 120g for them as adults)?

Are your puffers still black-bellied? If so, I would suggest doing another 50% WC vacuuming the substrate really well. If you hadn't changed the water in 2-3 weeks with that many puffers there must be too much bio-matter for the bacteria to keep up with.

ya i'm probably going to clean up the gravel again. that'll be changing it twice in 2 days but hopefully it's gonna save him. i'm gonna start looking for a new tank too. the strange thing is only one of them has a black belly sigh.