The Puffer Forum

The Tank:
10.5 gallons with 2-3 cm light colored gravel at the bottom. (I know this is a small tank, space is limited for now) Fake plastic plants, a few shells, a toy mountain with hiding places, a toy barrel, heater, a filter. There are no live plants or coral. Tank was established about 1 1/2 months ago. I add a 250mg AquaPharm Instant bacteria tab to the tank each week.

The inhabitants:
4 Green Spotted Puffers approx 5-6cm in length. No other fish live in the tank. All fish are fed daily with fozen bloodworms or frozen spirulina brine shrimp. They have had two meals over the past two weeks of tiny live translucent shrimp.

The problem:
One fish has been acting strange/sick for about a week. Symptoms: Sluggish behaviour, clamping of one fin and breathing rapidly out of one gill, hiding from the other fish (especially inside the mountain, where it is very dark), swimming up against the stream, sometimes skimming his head against the top. Physically, I don't see any spots and the fish is eating well. Color is white belly and typical green spotted dorsum. The other three fish are acting healthy. I haven't noticed any unusual bullying.

Water chemistry: A 40-50% water change with extensive gravel wash was done about 4-5 hours ago. Here are the current parameters:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: .1 - .3 (I think it reads close to .1 on the color chart, my girlfriend thinks closer to .3)
Phosphate: .25
pH: 8.0
Salinity: 1.004
Temp: 26C/79F
sorry I don't have nitrates...
Water changes are usually done once a week, but twice this week as I'm worried about my fish.

What is wrong with my GSP and how do I treat it? Is it a gill worm? Please help! I am afraid it will die. It has been very reclusive as of late. If you are recommending treatment, please note whether you would treat the entire tank or place the fish in quarantine (I have not done this before).

First of all, I would say that it is probably a bit too small in there for 4 GSP's, and that's probably not helping things at all. It's hard to diagnose your puffer without having more symptoms. Do you notice any unusual poop? Does the one puffer look really skinny? How does he eat?

I really think you need to think about getting a bigger tank, I know you said that space is limited, but you cannot keep 4 GSP's in that tank for much longer without compromising the health of your puffers.
Someone else may have some better suggestions or advice.

With that small of a tank, it would be difficult to diagnose much, as none of them will act normally in there. What are your plans for upgrading? I believe that should be your 1st priority.

sorry you're still having troubles
in your other hospital thread "A Sick Puffer. Can Someone Help?" from Feb 13th, we made many recommendations to get your water cleaned up for your fish
it sounds like you still have a terribly over-crowded tank, and judging by your water test figures, it is not only un-cycled, but you have a very toxic nitrite situation
ammonia & nitrites must be at zero!
the tank size is not big enough for even one of your fish, let alone four of them
please review your other thread
the behavior of your GSP may have nothing to do with a parasite, but everything to do with the water conditions!

Exactly what eieio said. From what you described, there are no symptoms whatsoever of parasites, but your tank is overstocked and only partially cycled; the behavior you have described reflects that.

There will never be enough surface space to support enough bacteria to handle the bioload of 4 GSPs in a 10g tank.

well i do not know about parasites but where do i go on your site to post an update on my figure 8 puffer that i almost killed? he is better named him cheesepuff. i am working on a new 30 gallon tank getting it set up any help will be greatly appreciated suzie-q

Post in the BW puffer forum.

Thanks for your posts. I understand that my tank size is too small and there are plans to get a bigger tank, but I'm really worried about this being something other than behavior due to a small tank or a reaction to water quality. When I made yesterday's post I had just changed the water 50%! If the issue is water quality, why is only one puffer acting strange? This morning he was sitting behind the barrel panting, then swam over to the mountain and flicked his head against it a few times as if to scratch something off. The symptoms he is showing seem to fit the description of a fish with gill disease or some other parasite. Can someone tell me why they think the puffer DOES NOT have a parasite? For what other reason would he be single-gill breathing and swimming around less than the others?

Puffergirl, The fish is eating well. When food hits the water he tears into it like the rest. The poop hasn't looked funny except for one day when he had red stringy poop. I haven't seen that again and I think the red of the puffers had red poop that day, maybe because they had live shrimp the night before. He's not losing weight.

Eieio, The ammonia was 0 and the nitrite .1 or .3, which are the lowest readings on the scale. You said my tank was partially cycled. What do I need to do to get it fully cycled? Should I stop adding the bacteria tabs?

You all are the experts, but things just look strange to me....Thanks again for your help.

There is no live bacteria in those tabs. At best (or worst, actually), there is dead bacteria which is the same as adding more bioload/fish waste to the already suffering system. There really is no way to cycle a tank with as much bioload your fish are adding to that tank. All you can do to keep up is daily water changes.

Again, without actually seeing any "parasites", it is difficult to diagnose symptoms in a fish that isn't being kept in the proper environment. Some of what you are describing could be due to stress. Survival of the fittest--the weakest will show signs of stress/disease 1st.

podin04 wrote:Thanks for your posts. I understand that my tank size is too small and there are plans to get a bigger tank, but I'm really worried about this being something other than behavior due to a small tank or a reaction to water quality. When I made yesterday's post I had just changed the water 50%! If the issue is water quality, why is only one puffer acting strange? Can someone tell me why they think the puffer DOES NOT have a parasite? For what other reason would he be single-gill breathing and swimming around less than the others?

i'm glad that you acknowledge that the tank is too small, because an over-crowded, un-cycled tank is likely the cause of these problems
any nitrite is disasterous!
i don't think that your puffer "does not" have a parasite
it may have a parasite
unusual behavior is not always due to parasites
i think your puffers' behavior is due to poor water quality & stress from over-crowding
eventually, whatever is affecting him will affect the others, too
as Pufferpunk said, it starts with the weakest
treating for parasites with the poor water quality may be the wrong move

podin04 wrote:Eieio, The ammonia was 0 and the nitrite .1 or .3, which are the lowest readings on the scale. You said my tank was partially cycled. What do I need to do to get it fully cycled? Should I stop adding the bacteria tabs]?

i didn't say your tank is partially cycled
i said it is un-cycled!
trust us, please. it's the over-crowding resulting in poor water quality that is the major issue!

podin04 wrote:Thanks for your posts. I understand that my tank size is too small and there are plans to get a bigger tank

what, specifically are these plans?
what size tank?
bear in mind, that the longer this goes on, there is risk of additional problems (disease, stunting, etc.)
i'm not trying to strike fear into your heart, but you need to understand the urgency in this matter & remedy it with more than water changes & additives!

There is no such thing as a partially or fully cycled tank. Either it is cycled & can support the bioload of the inhabitants in there without showing any ammonia or nitrate or it isn't.

Pufferpunk wrote:There is no such thing as a partially or fully cycled tank.

hence the "un-cycled"

Pufferpunk wrote: Either it is cycled & can support the bioload of the inhabitants in there without showing any ammonia or nitrate or it isn't.

please pardon the correction: "ammonia or nitrite"

Okay, guys, could these water conditions also be responsible for the fish swimming haphazardly (ie. turning on its side and jerking itself upright)? In the past, this has been the case in my fish of a different species. Could this be the case with the GSP's?

Absolutely