Lost a Puffer/Found a Puffer

[Reluctant Puffster]

Our Green Spotted Puffer, Dante, died about ten days ago. My wife and I are very depressed over it. I bought him at WalMart over a year ago for our freshwater tank, not knowing what he was. When I found out, instead of getting rid of him, I set up a 29g brackish tank where he lived until last week.

Dante was a good puffer. He always seemed energetic and healthy, with few signs of stress. He ate well, and exhibited little glass surfing unless someone was right outside the tank. I don't know why he died. He seemed healthy and happy right until the end. I wonder if it had something to do with a batch of bloodworms, because I lost two fish in the freshwater tank after feeding the same worms. Or it could have been something I did wrong and didn't even realize.

When he died I thought I'd recycle the tank as freshwater and make it a little community setup. It remained slightly brackish as I did the changeover, but the whole while I looked at the empty tank I couldn't picture anything but a puffer in it. Yesterday I talked by wife into getting another one. She was not too keen on the idea, as she was very attached to Dante and very upset when he died. We thought of him the same as our dog and cat. When the Steelers went to the Super Bowl last year my wife made our toy poodle a #43 Steelers jersey with the name POODLEMALU on the back, after Steelers safety Troy Polamalu. Dante, too, got his own jersey, a tiny #43 Steelers jersey hanging on the tank, with the name PUFFERMALU on the back. She really liked him.

We went to an unnamable large chain LFS to see what they had. They had three GSPs, and they looked rough to say the least. They were larger than Dante. He was about 2" when he died. Two of these were about 4.5", and another was 3". They were crammed into what looked like a 15g tank with some weird looking eel-type things and other odd fish. They looked very stressed and very sad.

I immediately said no, thinking I'd have my hands full with a healthy fish let alone one of these guys. But my wife insisted we had to "rescue" one. She knows what a healthy puffer should look like, and seeing these fish broke her heart. She won me over, and I picked the littlest one. She named him Homer and we took him with us.

At home I dripped him over to the light brackish setup. In the LFS tank Homer appeared sullen and grayed, and he was hanging out on the bottom, in the only spot away from other fish. He also looked very stressed and, guessing here, probably very scared. I have no doubt he was bullied by the larger puffers in the LFS tank, and the overcrowding certainly made him stressed. Who knows what the tank parmeters were. After 45 minutes in our tank, and a good meal, his bright greens/yellows came out and his belly whitened. The black on the fringe of his belly vanished. It took him a while to adjust at first, and he stayed in one corner of the tank for a while, gradually going a little farther with each pass around until he seemed to realize there were no other fish to bother him.

As I type this Homer is happily puttering around his tank, looking like a new fish. He is starting to come to the glass already when people are around, but has not yet equated the opening of the top with food falling from the sky. I'm watching for signs of parasites, but when he pooped today it looked okay. He has a bite out of his tail that I hope heals up. He gets very stressed whenever I mainipulate anything in the tank and his belly starts to gray again. I hope this passes.

I don't want to treat him or the tank with anything until I see a clear reason too. I do want to do small, daily water changes to keep the water crystal clear. The water is very slightly brackish, not even registering on the hydrometer. The girl at the LFS couldn't tell me the SG of the tank water, so I'm starting with fresher water and working up.

Any advice on how to proceed with this guy aside from what I'm already doing is greatly appreciated. As my wife said, and I guess I agree, anything we do with him is better than where he was. But I want to do my best. I don't know why Dante died, and I want to do better this time. Also, at about 3" long, does anyone have a guess on how old he is?

[pufferpuggirl]

Mr Reluctant Puffster -- I salute you and your wife! Good for you for helping out a poor puffer that doesn't deserve the bad treatment it's gotten. I feel so sorry for them, as many of them are gathered from their natural environments, shipped around the world to different locations and most of them aren't treated very well in the process and once they reach their destination.

I, too, have rescued GSP's, and am happy to say that I now have 5 fat and happy little dirgibles!

It sounds to me as if you know what you're doing, and sounds like you're doing just the right thing. A big smile came across my face as I read about Homer brightening up and puffering around his new tank. I think you did the right thing and I'm sure you will get loads of happiness out of having him.

All the best with Homer!

[Pufferpunk]

So sorry for the loss of your friend...

Great save! I usually scold folks for rescuing puffers, because I feel it encourages the shops mistreating them that they are good sellers, no matter how they care for them but this time I don't think I will. Maybe you could go back there & scold them yourself? Just keep up with water changes & good food & I think he should be the happiest puffer around. Who knows, maybe there's a 55g tank in his future, where he can putter around to his heart's content!

[eieio]

thanks, you guys, for doing what you did

[marksrush]

Yeah, definitely a good deed you've both done. It's always nice when you can be a force for good in this world, rather than a force for evil.