The Puffer Forum

okay so i got sucked into the walmart trap.
I got a GSP.
the guy told me i needed aquarium salt and handed me freshwater salt
ive been using that and "jungle start right allantoin water conditioner.
hes in a 10g for now until i can move him into my 50

Anyeways heres my problem...
the man told me to get "tetraMin tropical flakes" and that is what he would eat
when i got him home i fed him the first morning and he seemed to swin around and suck in the flake then spit it out in 20 peices
i couldnt ttell if he ate the peices
when i got home i was sure he was dead... he was curled up in the corner of the tank & the tank's water was murky... (food sitting there all day i spose)
then i turned on the light and he woke up and began swimming so i changed the water

hes very active but im worried hes not eating.
i got him monday afternoon
today is tuesday night
thursday night im going to the beach until nxt tuesday
during this time my neighbor will be caring for him

PLEASE HELP
if you have suggestions please tell me and tell me where to get it etc.
i live in north carolina U.S.

Will he be okay? or do i need to do something more drastic?
please help me asap

thank you

Hey Skyreep

You need Marine Salt, you're going to need to do a 100% water change and use Marine Salt in the new water

Read this it will tell you all the kinds of things you can feed your GSP
library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/
Stop feeding him flake they're not suppose to eat it. When you next go to Walmart take a print of the information from the link above and give it to the donut that told you to feed the GSP flake! Also tell him that he should be advising customers to use Marine salt not freshwater aquarium salt!

If your tank is not cycled your going to have to ask your neighbour to do a water change every day untill you come back and then you'll have to do the same untill the filter has enough bacteria in it to deal with the ammonia from the fish food and poo
Here's a link on cycling
library/water-filtration/emergencycycle/

Post some pix of your GSP and tank in this thread please mate so we can have a look

ok in a sec ill post the link to a vid of him, im still filming it.


he has a 2-10 gallon power filter and an air bubbler
will he be okay on flakes until tuesday or wednesday or do i need to make a run to petsmart tommorow ASAP?
i just tried feeding him again and he seemed to go crazy for the flakes
if hes been on flakes for a while will he even accept blood worms/ freeze dried blood worms?

you can probably run to the store and see if you can find some frozen UNCOOKED shrimp, or scallops or anything like that, or in the butcher section some previously frozen shrimp (and freeze it). Defrost a small piece with your aquarium water and let him eat till he has a round belly. He will not touch any of that flake food at all.

skyreep1 wrote:i just tried feeding him again and he seemed to go crazy for the flakes

He's probably so hungry at the moment that he'll eat anything!

skyreep1 wrote:if hes been on flakes for a while will he even accept blood worms/ freeze dried blood worms?

If he's still small the easiest thing for him to eat will be Blood worms. Just go to your lfs and get some frozen blood worms, they come in a sheet of frozen blocks. You'll probably only need half a block to feed him and even that might be to much. Just let it melt in some tank water and drop it in for him, I garranty he'll be scoffing them down before they hit the gravel!

okay so more details on the feeding, i think petsmart has freeze dried krill, blood worms, and brine shrimp.
which would be best? my mom said she can go by there tommorow afternoon but she wont be home until about 7 or so. i told her if they didnt have any to go to the grocery store and get a small pack of frozen shrimp. would i have to dice it and feed it to him or what?

also if i can get the blood worms tommorow i take it ill have to cycle the tank with marine salt and then start feeding him with blood worms... will he be okay until tommorow night?

and once hes on blood worms will the tank still have to be continually cycled every day?

GREAT NEWS GUYS
right now p-diddy is fat and happy
i went outside after seeing that they eat earthworms an the feeding sheet (i live out in the boonies worms are everywhere)

i had no idea he was so varocious
it was about a 3 inch long worm and he scarfed it down
hopefully this will hold him off and keep him happy until i can get him some blood worms

would earworms make a good healthy diet by themselves?

skyreep1 wrote:GREAT NEWS GUYS
right now p-diddy is fat and happy
i went outside after seeing that they eat earthworms an the feeding sheet (i live out in the boonies worms are everywhere)

i had no idea he was so varocious
it was about a 3 inch long worm and he scarfed it down
hopefully this will hold him off and keep him happy until i can get him some blood worms

would earworms make a good healthy diet by themselves?

Yeah puffers love em

It's best to feed you puffer all sorts of food to keep him healthy, so yes feed him earthworms until you get the bloodworms and then just feed him either every other day. If you get some shrimo/prawns you'll probably have to finley chop them up if he's still small

ps I always squeeze the dirt out of the earthworms before I feed them to my puffer so that it doesn't dirty the water and get into his system (prob won't hurt him but hey)

Hi. I just got my GSP a week ago, so I'm not much further ahead in knowlege than you. However, I have fed mine snails and frozen UNCOOKED (gray not pink) shrimp. Thaw one in a bit of his tank water in a separate container. Then give him a small piece. He won't be able to eat the whole thing and it will just muck up his tank. I've also given him dried krill. I'm trying to give him a varied diet. They love munching on the shrimp as it has texture and the snails are crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside.

okay last question then bed.
now that i found something he can eat do i still have to cycle the water everyday for 4-8 weeks?
will ammonia eliminator liquid do the job until then so i only have to change the water every 2-3 weeks?
In other words what else do i need to do for the next couple of days until i can get blood worms
i can get ammonia eliminator for him tommorow
and marine salt within 3 days
a tank heater within 5 days (his water is about 76 now)
he seems fat & happy though,
one earthworm in morning & one at night?

I was told to get a heater asap. They like it warm! I got a neat one that you set the temp you want. Its fairly accurate. He was at 74 and now is at 84. Is yours little- like an inch or so? I change my water fairly often- adding the right amoutn of salt and water conditioner and cycling bacteria.

All great advice for you here, I'm glad you found us! While you're poking around in our Library, be sure to read our GSP article too.

ok well thanks for the great advice everone

but i still have another question =]

now that hes fat and happy there are flakes on the bottom that are going to decay
the filter i use has a removable carbon filter that it says to replace every 2 weeks or month

but when i do my 10-20% water changes do i need to leave the filter submerged?
will this filter even work?

and finally will the bacteria i need even grow on this type of filter?

it is a "tetra whisper power filter 2-10 gallon"

Thanks so much everyone

ill post pix this afternoon

skyreep1 wrote:do i still have to cycle the water everyday for 4-8 weeks?

The process that we refer to as "cycling" is the growing of beneficial bacteria that converts fish waste into less toxic things. The reason we say to do water changes every day on an uncycled tank is that, if you don't remove the toxic chemicals (which aren't converted to less toxic forms because the bacteria isn't there), the puffer will get very sick and likely die. Therefore, yes, you will be required to do daily water changes until your filter/tank has built up the proper bacteria (and would then be considered cycled). You can read this article for more information: library/water-filtration/emergencycycle/

skyreep1 wrote:will ammonia eliminator liquid do the job until then so i only have to change the water every 2-3 weeks?

No, you still need to do water changes every 1-2 weeks to keep your Nitrate levels low (the last stage of toxin conversion done by your beneficial bacteria). Even while using ammonia/nitrite remover, you need to be changing the water every 2-3 days, at least.

skyreep1 wrote:and marine salt within 3 days

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about making the tank brackish/marine right now. I agree with everyone that it's important to have GSPs in brackish/marine, but you're still learning about how to cycle a tank and everything that is required, so there's no reason to complicate things at this point. Skip on the salt stuff until you've built a solid understanding of how the cycling process works and your tank is properly established as a freshwater tank. You can gradually switch it to brackish later on when things have settled down.

skyreep1 wrote:a tank heater within 5 days (his water is about 76 now)

76 F is a fine temperature, but you should pick up a heater when you get a chance so that you'll have it (in case the temp ever starts to drop). Just set it up so that you stay around the 76 - 80 F range.

skyreep1 wrote:one earthworm in morning & one at night?

Although it's hard, try not to overfeed your puffer. Overfeeding will cause fatty liver disease, and will prematurely end your puffer's life. I would feed him once a day until his belly is nice and rounded (usually his belly will be 33 - 50% as thick as his body when he's full - so look at his "height" before you feed, divide that by 3, and add that third to his total "height" to see if he's being overfed - see image at bottom). If you find that his belly is shrinking back to normal very quickly (within 5 hours or so), it likely means he has internal parasites (most new puffers have these). If that's the case, you'll have to treat him with some internal parasite medicine. Let us know if this is the case, and we'll recommend you some medicines and whatnot. Don't jump into the treatment just yet, though.