The Puffer Forum

I dont think this really needs the info in red at the top, but anyway...

Sometimes when I pass by the tank, I give the puffers a friendly tap on the glass, I dunno why, just out of habit, and it never seemed to bother them, and it was always a pretty light tap. I guess I did it particularly hard today, and I scared the CRAP out of one of my GSPs! He swam around faster than Ive ever seen, jumped, and attempted to bury himself in the sand, all within about half a second. But as he was burrowing, he froze. His eyes were listless, no breathing, no fin movement, nothing, just floating. I freaked out, thinking he had done a small puff and swallowed some air during the jump, and tried to 'burp' him as best I could remember from reading, and I think I may have gotten some out, because I did it towards the bottom and I saw some sand blow away on the first 5 or so attempts. I held him upright in my hand for a few seconds and he started to gain movement again, but he couldnt stay 100% upright or swim on his own very well for a few minutes, and now has regained most of his movement but is currently cowering behind a plant....

This was about 10 minutes ago, anything I should do? I feel absolutely HORRIBLE....

Now I know why they say not to tap on the glass

Poor little guy! I bet he'll be fine as soon as he gets a chance to calm down.

He looks pretty good now, Ive heard some splashes coming from the tank, I think hes just gonna be easily spooked till he calms down... Im just gonne leave the lights off and not disturb them so he can have a good night's sleep to settle down.

I hate when my little buddies arent happy... I almost cried when I thought I had lost him

"Please do not tap on the glass" was my mantra for the 8 years I worked in fish shops.

I know now precisely why... I guess after the 16 years Ive been alive, seeing it done at pet stores and aquariums over and over again without anything bad happening made me figure it was just for keeping the glass clean or something...

But um, bad news... I woke up this morning (actually like 5 minutes ago) and found him in the same state, but this time with his colors faded, I was sure he had to be dead, I had no idea how long he'd been like that. So I tried the same thing as last time, and it worked again! He had sucked in some sand and I brushed it out of his mouth once he started breathing again, and I held him upright while he got his bearings. At the moment his just sitting on the bottom looking around, looking terrified...

What should I do? I put some shirts in front of the glass last night and kept the lights off longer than usual to let him calm down, I guess that didnt work... I even slept downstairs to avoid disturbing him...

You're pretty determined to do anything it takes, obviously, and where there's a will, there's a way. Maybe you could try answering the questions in red. There could be something else we're not seeing. Is your other puffer in the same tank? Is he showing any symptoms of... anything?

Ive answered them in some other posts about my fish, but okay.

Ammonia is zero, salinity is 1.010 (working on bringing it up), pH is 7.4, tank is about 25 gallons, has one other GSP of the same size (about an inch and a half), I feed them every day, skipping fridays, and I feed them bloodworms, krill, the occasional mealworm, snails from the LFS, and wild caught baby ghost crabs, freshwater clams and shrimp when I can get them. I change the water on Saturdays (was on vacation this Saturday, changing it as soon as this guy is back to normal), and I use some algae remover every once in a while and dechlorinator/stress stuff to the tap water when I change it. The only changes I have made lately were some plant trimming and a new layer of argonite sand to cover up some of the gravel in there to look nicer. Its been set up since November I beleive, and wasnt cycled at the time (dumb move, but it worked) but for 5 months I keept a bluegill, 2 baby bullhead cats, and an American eel in there.

The other GSP doesnt appear to care at all, hes just buzzing around, happy as can be, but when I walked in this morning I noticed he distinctly avoided the other as he floated 'dead' on the bottom.

I think that answers everything... And right now hes hiding out behind the filter, which I didnt even know he could fit behind...

I don't see anything that could do this. I'm stumped. Sure, their tank is too small for the long term, but they're fine right now, so that's not it.

Water changes never hurt. Maybe something could have gotten in there. I'm grasping at straws. Anyone else got ideas?

I returned from the Outer Banks on Saturday, and I brought home several of those sand/ghost crabs you see on the beach at night, thinking the puffers would love them. I put in two at first, but when I found out they just ate the eyes and legs, I fed the rest off over the next 2 days and figured the amount of legs and eyes they ate just about equaled the amount of food they would normally eat, and I put in some live mussels(?)I found attatched to a piece of driftwood on the beach, but after I found one dead and uneaten, and smelling them (nasty!!!), I figured the fish ignored them, so I threw them out. Could that have anything to do with it? Maybe the unfamiliar crabs freaked him out a little bit? They had all been gone and eaten for at least 9 or so hours before this happened.

I know exactly why this happened the first time, but a second time, overnight, without any outside stress, has me stumped. Maybe the other puffer brushed past him while he was sleeping and frightened him again? Theyve never showed any sign of aggresion toward each other, no fin nipping or anything whatsoever.

Pufferpunk wrote:"Please do not tap on the glass" was my mantra for the 8 years I worked in fish shops.

That's why I threaten to tape up the hands of my husband's nieces when they come to visit!

Aaaaaaand now hes puffed!!! AHHHH!

What do I do?!

I walked by to check on him, and he immediately bolted to the surface and jumped, and he puffed. He was floating, but still alive, so I knew he swallowed air, so I 'burped' him, and two bubbles came out of his mouth and he resumed swimming. He swam kind of awkwardly, but righted himself after a minute and is now resting on the bottom, and his colors are saying hes none too happy... Whats freaking him out so much??? Im sure the puffing incident isnt gonna help his stress level now...

Now hes doing a lot of swimming at the surface, a few jumps, and when he swam under the filter water discharge, it pushed him down, which he usually doesnt notice, but it spooked him and he went flying again...

I'm almost as freaked out as he is!!!!

Sorry for the triple post...

I'd turn off the light and leave him alone for now, let him get his bearings and get back to normal. He's very stressed and the more you interact with him, the more stressed he's going to be.

Dude, did you do something to your hair.
Poor puffer!