The Puffer Forum

My puffer wont eat today and he is sluggish...just sitting on the bottom of the tank...and sort of floating around not zooming madly like his usual self. I know he has been eating I watch him regularly, I did notice he was getting a little thinner earlier this week so I went form feeding every other day to every day. He looks emaciated..which I had not noticed till today.....I know he ate last night but today I even tried to hand feed him a shrimp piece(his favorite) and he wouldn't touch it...I held it up to his face for over 2 min while he sat on the bottom of the tank......and his breathing looks labored but his gills look fine I think....I guess I have never really looked at them before. I have an eel and a black night Gobi in the tank as well and both are doing just fine. the eel was under the weather last week when the cat unplugged the tank and it got really cold......but he is happy and well again.... I am supper supper worried, I have had this puffer for 3 years problem free, he Is about 3" long green spotted puffer in a brackish water tank(1.014). I haven't added any new fish since I got him and the eel, the Gobi has been in the tank for almost 5 years. Its a 29 gallon tank. I feed them vitamin encapsulated mysis shrimp blood worms and pieces of raw shrimp I buy at the grocery store on occasion. I know the water quality is not the best Its hard for me to keep up with the water changes, but I have been trying harder lately, with 20% every other week trying to get the nitrates down... I hurt my back so I cant lift much water at a time, I have a system I setup to make it easier for me, but it still takes me a long time.... I'm ashamed to admit what the numbers are...but they are improving.....The thing is that everything in the tank is the same ...I switch off how often I feed them depending on how fat he is getting..........I am scared he will die...I Have never ever not seen a puffer want to eat.......normally I have to be really careful cuz he will bite me and he just sat there with the shrimp in his face ans didn't flinch. His color is good, pretty bright on top and a little Grey on his tummy sometimes and he looks really thin.....I do not think he looked that thin earlier this week. Please if anyone has any ideas of what I can do.......I love my little guy( or girl I don't know) oh and the pH Is a little low, at 7 I put soem stuffinthere to raise it(buffer) this morning and the kh has skyrocketed to over 40 dkh since I last checked. I have some of those leaching rocks in there.
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I am going to try to trim his beak after work tonight, I had never heard about them needing to wear that down but it makes sense....I don't think I will be able to forgive myself if its too late and that is the reason why. also I will step up on the water changes....... which means I will have to buy more salt....I think I'm getting low. His decline was so sudden though I don't think either of these will help. :S

He did not make it through the night...why did my puffer die so quickly????? one day he was great swimming around like always and the next day he is just dead.......I did a water change this morning to try and reduce the kh and nitrates...... I found him this morning floating upside down with a little bubble in his tummy...apon closer inspection he is not that thin really and his beak is plenty worn down. My two other fish seem great....but so did my puffer just 24 hours ago......

I'm sorry to hear that...

I'm afraid the fact that "kh has skyrocketed to over 40dkh" might have had something to do with the sudden death. A massive change in water hardness can induce osmotic shock which, for an already stressed fish, could be fatal.

How high were the nitrates? Have you tested nitrite and ammonia? High nitrates are often correlated to high dissolved organics and various other nasties. How often do you usually change water, and how much?

well for the first year or so after I had gotten my new puffer and eel I watched my water quality carefully and did my water changes twice a month... eventually that became less and less often..... After my car accident I really didn't do changes at all anymore or test my water..... I tested my nitrates this summer and realized they were supper supper high...like over 70...and freaked out and did a bunch of water changes for two weeks....then I have been doing them once or twice a month ever since....I also reduced the amount of food i was giving them, to try and reduce waste....i haven't tested my kh since then I have never really had a problem with it before.......my water was always at a 7.4 pH and about 18 kh.....never changed.....Not in the 6 years I have had the tank.... so sometime between now and this last summer my pH dropped and my kh skyrocketed. I added some buffer to the tank to try and get the pH up a little but I have found that the stuff seems to raise the kh as well so I'm a bit wary of using it. I need to know what to do to fix this, I cant loose any more fish......... I miss my puffer

I have a new post on the brackish water forum page....Please read and help if you can. Since my puffer has passed I do not want to use up valuable space for people who's puffers still have a chance.