The Puffer Forum

Ok, i started a bracking tank on 5/1. added 2 GSP, 2 Yellow cichilds, 1 pleco, 1 stery cat.

one of the GSP's bellies turned black, his tail curved, fins clamped and just goes on autopilot. i thought it was just shock of the water, maybe a rapid PH change (im new to this) or not enough salinity.

he goes in and out of this state throught the day and sometimes appears to be somewhat happy, my other GSP is thriving, so happy, active, and eating tons. This has been going on for 3 weeks now and he is not getting any better. he hasnt eaten in 10 days and is looking gaunt, im not sure how much longer he will hold on. i feed them bloodworms, he just swims thru them, i feed them krill, he doesnt even attempt it, i put in pellets - nothing, flake, nothing, snails - nada. I bet he is getting picked on by a cichlid but i am afraid he may be diseased. i bought them both at my LFS. im at a loss, should i get rid of him? i pulled the bullying cichlid out of the tank for a few hours to see if he woudl shape up and nope..
36 gl bowfront
PH - 8.2
Nitrate - 0 (recently shot up to max)
Nitite - 0 (recently shot up to max)
Ammonia - 0
SG - 1.008

welcome to the forum!
a few points which may help! (i must admit i know little about GSP's)
the pleco as far as i know will be really uncomfortable in the salt, the tank is really too small for all those fish. There is some really good info on the GSP's under the learn tab at the top of the page! i think from what i have heard they can change their belly colours quite alot but as you said he is not eating, maybe there is a problem with him. Im sure someone with more GSP knowledge will be along real soon to give you some more advice.
Until then
Welcome again and congratulations on becoming a puffer owner!

Pleco died 2 days ago. He was eaten by the happy puffer and the dominating cichlid. I found a chunk left but that's it. I am unsure if he died before consumption or not.

Can you post a picture of the sick GSP?

not sure if these go thru or not but here is the best pic i could get of them with my phone. the first one is my happy healthy and well fed puffer. the other 2 are the sickly puffer - he looks much better today and even ate a small bite of krill a few minutes ago.

well ignore the pics, they are labeled wrong. the bottom one is the belly of the sickly guy. i will try to get a better pic with a real camera

Long story short, tank is overstocked and not cycled. Dead pleco probably contributing big time to the spike in nitrates/nitrites.

Puffers can not handle dirty water or poor conditions, or being harassed by tankmates (cichlids). The catfish will not appreciate the salt.

Solution = water changes and look for a bigger tank or return most of the fish and stock the tank properly.

If you haven't done any recent water changes, start off with a couple smaller ones over a few days (a couple gallons here and there) and then move on to larger, 50-80% water changes at least once a week. You need to dilute all those toxins, but if you haven't done any water changes recently doing a big one out of nowhere will shock the fish and system, so its better to do a few small ones first.

THANKS - i have been doing 20-30% water changes weekly if not every 3 days. i did a 70% water change this morning. nitrates/nitrites were high prior to the death. ammonia is in check though.

i mix my water for water changes like this:
5 gal water
1/2 cup marine salt
5 ml dechlorinator/ammonia neutralizer
nutrafin cycle (for bacteria build up)
Prime (if levels call for it)
I stir it up to dissolve, aerate a bit then pour in.....is there a better way? this is expensive and incorrect im sure

here are the results of a test 5 min ago after a 70% water change
sg - 1.008
ph - 8.2
nitrites - 0 (way down)
nitrates - 15 (way down from where it was)
ammonia - 0
temp - 79

i bought a 50 gal on CG a few days ago so im gonna get it ready for the puffers. will be about a month untils its cleaned and cycled though

Why are you using two dechlors? (prime and the other) I'd just use prime.

You're going to have to do larger, more frequent water changes to keep those nitrates in check, that's the only way to keep them down when they are rising that high even with regular weekly changes (btw, most of us do 50% weekly at a minimum).

I use two dechlorinators at times. I dechlorinate with the cheap stuff, then add a little Prime to get rid of my tap's ammonia. That way, I use less of the expensive stuff. The more chemicals in the water, the more Prime you have to add.