The Puffer Forum

Hello fellow puffer enthusiasts,

I have 3 Green Spotted Puffer fish, 1.5 inch long, and I love my little guys. I've learned that they need to be in BW, and I'll set that up later, but they're in fresh water with aquarium salt for now. I've had them in my 29g tank with cichlids and tiger barbs since I bought them about 3 weeks ago. But I moved them into a smaller tank, by themselves, yesterday so they wouldn't have to compete for food (they love frozen mysis shrimp and muscle).

This smaller tank was previously used to house an aggressive cichlid. It's an uncycled hospital/quarantine tank with brown algae at the bottom. It has a small filter and air stone, and I do weekly water changes so it has 0 Ammonia and 0 Nitrite. I took him out and moved the puffers in. (I want to buy a 20g tank and set it up with marine salt for them, but that will come later). Anyway, that was yesterday and the puffers seemed fine in their new temporary home.

But today I noticed a problem. When I fed them this morning, I noticed 2 of them had a growth on one eye. The best way I can describe it is like a white, moldy, furry growth covering one of their eyes. The third puffer is okay so far, but I worry he will get it, too. I panicked and added a dose of Melaphix and half a dose of Malachite green (since it says it treats saprolegnia fungus). I don't know if it's a fungus, or something else. I really love my little guys and want to help them. Someone, please, tell me what to do about their eye problem.

-- Sphiero

Your tank is to small.
30 gallons each for the GSP
They might have some fungus/bacteria growth.
Uncycled tank equals BAD
It has to be cycled in order to keep fish.
Any pictures?
Get to brackish now.
Treat it with Melafix

PLEASE read the article in our library for information.
The steps that you are doing to "save" them are killing your puffers.

What you have is a fungus. Use Pimafix to treat. With three GSPs in an uncycled 20g, you need to be doing *daily* water changes until you can get them into at least 90g. Poor water quality is going to impede healing, so step it up on the water changes, and good luck.

Aye. Puffers get very ill when they are not in a cycled tank. You need to either get a filter from your cichlid tank (assuming you have more than 1 - don't rinse the media or anything, just pull it off the cichlid tank and put it directly onto your puffers' tank), or do daily water changes and use a detoxifying agent while your bacterial colony develops.

You could also transfer half of the media and sponges from you cichlid tank into the filter for the puffer tank.

You NEED to get some cycled media into that puffer tank, though! Please read this: library/water-filtration/emergencycycle/

All great info here, please heed their advise quickly!

Tetra SafeStart, if it's available in your area, will help cycle your tank very quickly. Get some if you can. Also, one uses marine salt like Instant Ocean to make brackish water, not aquarium salt.

Hello again Puffer brethren,

I'd like to start out, first, by saying thank you all for responding to my cry for help during my time of need. Secondly, I have good news! The first puffer's eye has cleared of fungus completely. He still has a bit of pop-eye though. The second puffer's eye has also improved, but still has a little bit of fungus (no pop-eye though). And the third puffer never got sick at all. Thank God in the heaven's almighty.

I only used Melaphix and Malachite Green on the first day; mainly because those were the only medications I had. I went out and bought some new meds that day though, and started using them the next day. I bought Maracyn Two (powder) and Maracyn Maroxy (liquid). The Maroxy is for fungus, and the Maracyn Two is an anti-bacterial. I found out I can use both meds concurrently, so I did for the next five days. Slowly, but surely, their eye health has been improving. I've also done several partial water changes: some 50%, some 90%, and one 100%. I still have a few questions though:

1) Are Melafix and Pimafix really any good? I sort of feel they are too cheap and don't really do much. Yet there are some people that believe in them. Have any of you really had any luck with these?

2) Do GSP fish really need 30 gallons EACH? Why so much water for EACH fish? If I give them a 29 gallon tank with a Penguin 350 filter that has two big bio-wheels, . . . What's wrong with that?

3) They measure 1.5 inches long right now. Can I wait until they are 2 inches long before I start introducing marine salt? And are there any good, lesser-priced alternative salts to "Instant Ocean"?

4) What should I feed them? (. . . besides live "food"?) I've been giving them frozen mysis shrimp and frozen mussel so far. They like it and eat it. Is this a good diet for them? I tried frozen krill twice, but they loose interest fast and swim away without eating . . . Why? I've also tried freeze-dried krill. They eat a little of it when it's still relatively dry and crunchy. After 1 or 2 minutes, they loose interest . . . Why? Other than live "food", What's the best food I can give them during this adolescent age? And what should I feed them later as they continue to grow?

5) CHRISTEMO, exactly which library article were you suggesting that I read? You didn't give me an article title, or link to it.

Again, thank you all.
-- Sphiero

1) Are Melafix and Pimafix really any good? I sort of feel they are too cheap and don't really do much. Yet there are some people that believe in them. Have any of you really had any luck with these?

Yes they are very good. I've used it on many fish, never had any problems.

2) Do GSP fish really need 30 gallons EACH? Why so much water for EACH fish? If I give them a 29 gallon tank with a Penguin 350 filter that has two big bio-wheels, . . . What's wrong with that?

Yes they do. They will be fine for now in the 29 gallon but yes you will need to upgrade the tank. Imagine a fish the size of a nerf football. When your GSP is full grown that's what size it will be.

3) They measure 1.5 inches long right now. Can I wait until they are 2 inches long before I start introducing marine salt? And are there any good, lesser-priced alternative salts to "Instant Ocean"?

Have you read the article about GSP's in the library? You can find it in my signature below. This will explain everything you need to know.

4) What should I feed them? (. . . besides live "food"?) I've been giving them frozen mysis shrimp and frozen mussel so far. They like it and eat it. Is this a good diet for them? I tried frozen krill twice, but they loose interest fast and swim away without eating . . . Why?I've also tried freeze-dried krill. They eat a little of it when it's still relatively dry and crunchy. After 1 or 2 minutes, they loose interest . . . Why? Other than live "food", What's the best food I can give them during this adolescent age? And what should I feed them later as they continue to grow?

Have you read the feeding article in the library? Again there's a link located in my signature.

5) CHRISTEMO, exactly which library article were you suggesting that I read? You didn't give me an article title, or link to it.

Under the learn tab click the puffer library. There are several articles. Good reading too.

I second all of that.

The library is fairly easy to manuver, if you just go check it out.

Hello again everyone,

I have read the articles and learned a lot. Thanks for that. I'd also just like to give another update on my GSPers. The meds I gave them helped, and they are completely cured of all ailments they previously had. I still have them in my Eclipse System Six for now (with an Aqua Tech 100 filter and 50% to 90% water changes twice a week). No fighting yet, thank God. I realize I have a dilemma on my hands, though, about what to do with them in the near future. I haven't decided what I'm going to do. Any suggestions are welcomed. That's all for now.

- Spheiro

Look on craigslist.com for cheap used tanks. I've also heard good things about Kijiji. Those water changes are exactly what's needed right now! Keep 'em up, and keep a close eye on parameters.

Watch the local paper for a used tank. If you keep a close eye out and act quickly you would be amazed at the great deals you can find. Another thing to check is garage sales. Even if you have to buy one thing at a time. In the meantime keep up with those waterchanges and keep looking for a larger tank.

Well, till they get to about 2", they can probably handle 10 gallons PER puffer, with frequent water changes.That should give you enough time to either :
a) Find someone to adopt a puffer or two,
b) find an LFS that will let you donate a puffer or two (hopefully with a little store credit)
c) get a bigger tank.