The Puffer Forum

Hello,

I recently purchased a GSP (~1.5") from my lfs and he was doing fine for the first month. His(or her) tank setup consists of a 10 gallon aquarium fully cycled (stats at end of post). I have a 20g lined up for him when he gets larger. In the past 2-3 days, he has not been eating and has been hovering nose up at the top. His diet consists of frozen krill, frozen brine shrimp, and once in a while bloodworms. He also got snails for the 1st week, but then my snail population dwindled. I am waiting for snails to breed in my 2g (just eggs right now). His belly is fairly grey around the edges, but white in the center. I am wondering if his beak has overgrown and is preventing him from eating? I could post a picture later if requested.

Recent changes: changed decor around on Friday the 9th, 25% wc same day

Tank Stats:
10g sole inhabitant is the GSP
It has been set up for 1.5 years as FW, one month as slowly increasing BW
Using pickling salt, I know I should use Marine Salt
Nutrafin aquaplus to dechlorinate water
Filtration: Aquaclear 30 w/sponge, bio balls and bio rings
Temp: 78-82F
Not sure if lighting makes a difference, but anyways a DIY LED fixture
Ammonia- 0.25ppm
Nitrite- 0.0ppm
Nitrate- 15ppm
Salinity- 1cup salt/10g not sure what that works out to
PH- ~7.6-7.8

If you need any more stats, just let me know.

Thank you very much

Willard

Willard2.0 wrote:Hello,

I recently purchased a GSP (~1.5") from my lfs and he was doing fine for the first month. His(or her) tank setup consists of a 10 gallon aquarium fully cycled (stats at end of post). I have a 20g lined up for him when he gets larger. In the past 2-3 days, he has not been eating and has been hovering nose up at the top. His diet consists of frozen krill, frozen brine shrimp, and once in a while bloodworms. He also got snails for the 1st week, but then my snail population dwindled. I am waiting for snails to breed in my 2g (just eggs right now). His belly is fairly grey around the edges, but white in the center. I am wondering if his beak has overgrown and is preventing him from eating? I could post a picture later if requested.

Recent changes: changed decor around on Friday the 9th, 25% wc same day

Tank Stats:
10g sole inhabitant is the GSP
It has been set up for 1.5 years as FW, one month as slowly increasing BW
Using pickling salt, I know I should use Marine Salt
Nutrafin aquaplus to dechlorinate water
Filtration: Aquaclear 30 w/sponge, bio balls and bio rings
Temp: 78-82F
Not sure if lighting makes a difference, but anyways a DIY LED fixture
Ammonia- 0.25ppm
Nitrite- 0.0ppm
Nitrate- 15ppm
Salinity- 1cup salt/10g not sure what that works out to
PH- ~7.6-7.8

If you need any more stats, just let me know.

Thank you very much

Willard

Hmmm,I don't even know what pickling salt is, but I get the impression that it cannot be good for your pal. At 1.5 inches, I think you'd be better using either pure/clean freshwater or real marine salt. Substitutes, with the exception of a aquarium salt and epson salt, are probably dangerous to your pal. I'm not sure what advice to give at this point since I've never heard of pickling salt being used for fish. With a cupful of salt, your salinity should be around 1.015? I don't know. I use a hydrometer to get a more accurate measuring. Also, if the tank is fully cycled, the ammonia level should be reading at 0? Someone can probably clarify this for me. Either way, it sounds like a water change is in order without the pickling salt.

Thanks for the quick reply

The pickling salt is apparently pure salt, no additives, and from what I have read, is the same as aquarium salt. I will get proper aquarium salt tomorrow. I will also do a water change in the next 5min without the salt. I just retested the ammonia (thinking I misread the test) and got a reading of 0.25ppm again. I am going to buy a hydrometer tomorrow and I'll post a more accurate salinity reading.
Thanks again

At this point, all you have is salty water, not brackish. You must use marine salt to make BW. Generally, it takes a cup of salt/5g to get a specific gravity of 1.005, so your 10g is probably around 1.002-3. Any amount of ammonia is toxic to your puffer but is shouldn't be making it act the way it is. I'd get it into a larger tank ASAP. Be sure to read the GSP article in our Library. Also great feeding articles in there.

Agreed - get him into the 20g that you said you have, and use marine salt and a hydrometer. But be sure to start by raising your SG by only .002 per week!

Check ammonia/nitrites frequently, and do a big water change, say, 80%, when they show up.

Hello,

I will pick up a hydrometer and some marine salt today. After a 25% water change without salt last night i woke up and noticed that my puffer's belly is completely white. I will look at getting him into the 20g sometime this week. he still did not eat however.

Willard

Be sure to move over everything from his 10g into the 20g, to keep it cycled.

Yes, everything (gravel, ornaments, filter media ect) will be transferred over. Would you recommend transferring only 5g over to remove the some of the pickling salt, or use all 10g.

Either way I will start out at 0.000SG and work my way up to 0.004-5 over a month.
Will he start eating again after the transition. He has not eaten since Fri, so I am kind of worried.

Willard

Willard2.0 wrote:Yes, everything (gravel, ornaments, filter media ect) will be transferred over. Would you recommend transferring only 5g over to remove the some of the pickling salt, or use all 10g.

Either way I will start out at 0.000SG and work my way up to 0.004-5 over a month.
Will he start eating again after the transition. He has not eaten since Fri, so I am kind of worried.

Willard

As long as the conditions keep improving, I'm sure he'll start eating again. Keep up the good work.

FW is 1.000. I would transfer the entire 10g, so as not to shock the puffers, since you've been doing smaller WC up to now.

Some of my snails finally hatched today, so in about a week, I should have some decent sized ones. I will try feeding him some krill in the morning, see if he will take it. I will also test the ammonia in the morning and post an update.

Thanks for the help

There is a good article about how to get puffers to eat & lots of good feeding ideas in our Library.

I will check out the articles after school today. The ammonia reading just now was 0.50. 25% water change when I get home.

Willard

Make it 80%.

80% it is, but wouldn't that shock the puffer and the filter bacteria due to the instant removal of the old salt. I am going to get the new tank prepped today and probably move him to the new tank on Friday, and then start slowly adding marine salt.