The Puffer Forum

Hello!
Ok I’m a bit new to the site, but hello! I’ll give a quick intro for me and my puffer. I have a GSP and I recently bought him from Wal-Mart thinking he was the cutest lil fish ever! Well when I bought him I didn’t think he would require a lot of care, but I did some research and noticed that puffers are not starter fish, but all in all he’s been awesome! That is, until today. I went to the movies and when I came back, he was bobbing at the top of the water and he was really black around the mouth. Well I took him out of the water and put him in a cup beside me so I can see a little better what was wrong, but the second he got in the cup, the black went away and he returned to his normal self. I thought it was the water, so I changed it, but when I put him back in the water, he swam around for awhile, fine and dandy, but the black spots came back and he completely stopped moving. I freaked and put him in the cup of water again and now he’s fine, but I don’t know what’s wrong with the water. The water in the cup is just plain sink water. No salt, no food, no anything and he’s happy as can be. The water in the bowl has rocks and artificial plants. Can anyone tell me what’s wrong? Is it the accessories in the tank?

Hi Fishlover and welcome to the forum

Im sorry to be the bearer of bad news as you may have not been informed on general puffer care.

Firstly GSP's cannot live let alone survive in a glass bowl and im assuming it doesnt have a filter because you didnt mention it.
Even if you have a filter i doubt it is cycled and has enough beneficial bacteria.
Gsp's are a brackish puffer which is inbetween freshwater aka tropical and salt water and they need 30 us gallons please read this ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Brackish/T_Nigroviridis/

Would you consider returning the gsp? until you get a proper tank and cycle it ready for any inhabitants you may want to read this articles
library/water-filtration/emergencycycle/
library/water-filtration/fishless-cycling/

library/category/feeding/ Feeding article

The glass bowl which you had it in without a filter, basically it is living in its own poop and pee,eating in it and sleeping with all of it..and if theres no filter there is high very high toxic waste (ammonia) which is WILL kill your puffer.
Having it in a cup isnt going to be any better.

Water needs to be dechlorinated to make it safe for fish.if you are just using normal tap water and nothing to treat it then that is also harmful to your fish.

Im sure there will be other more experienced who can explain it all to you in detail....but im pretty sure they will all agree that you return your puffer for its own wellbeing until you cycle a new tank.

ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Brackish/T_Nigroviridis/ <=== sorry doraemon didn't see that you already recommended that one
library/puffers-in-focus/an-introductio ... d-puffers/

are also good reads ...

they will need 30 gals eventually (the sooner the better)
Marine salt and aquarium salt are 2 different things ...


BTW .. welcome to the forum!!

Ok Thanks for the advice! And thanks for the welcome’s =) I was thinking about what you said about the two different salts and I bought Aquarium salt but I’ve only used a little because people say that they need Aquarium and others say that Aquarium salt isn’t good and that Marine salt is better. Which one is better for my puffer?

Definitely marine salt!

Please read all those articles linked to above & then come back to ask more questions.

doraemon wrote: Would you consider returning the gsp? until you get a proper tank and cycle it ready for any inhabitants you may want to read this articles

Don't return it! Wal-Mart flushes all returned fish alive! Instead, you could ask some local pet stores if they would like to have it.

Thanks for the help! I will NOT be returning my puffer because I made a commitment to him when I bought him, I WILL be getting a bigger tank and Marine salt tomorrow =)

I'm very glad to hear that you won't return the puffer, my fear when that was suggested was that you would do it, and the poor thing would be flushed! I'm very happy that you're willing to make and keep a commitment to your puffer, that's excellent.
Let me also welcome you to the forum!

LilGreenPuffer wrote:

doraemon wrote: Would you consider returning the gsp? until you get a proper tank and cycle it ready for any inhabitants you may want to read this articles

Don't return it! Wal-Mart flushes all returned fish alive! Instead, you could ask some local pet stores if they would like to have it.

i had no idea thats what walmart do to returned fish as im from the uk

Its great you are making a commitment fishlover and are willing to make the steps to cycle a tank, bare in mind as the tank isnt cycled the gsp will still be showing signs of stress.

I reccomend you also get a api liquid test kit they are the most accurate.

Are you planning on putting the gsp in the new tank to cycle the tank with?

Better to cycle the tank with the GSP than to leave him in the bowl.

Do your best to find Dr Tim's (read the emergency cycling article in our Library!). Do not add salt until your parameters are stable (0 ammonia/nitrite) for a week.

good luck xxx

One addendum to PP's message: if you have positive nitrite tests, one teaspoon of salt (table salt) per 10 US gallons will block the ill effects of nitrite (which can cause suffocation in fish).

If you are keeping the fish in a "bowl" with no filtration, it could simply be that there isn't enough oxygen in there for it anymore.. you need current and water flow to bring oxygen into the water.

When you put him in the cup, that you've freshly filled from the tap, its rich and full of oxygen..

Just one of many things that could be causing him to be happier in the cup. But that wouldn't last much longer than handful of days before it would kill him, so its certainly no option.