The Puffer Forum

He's been acting stressed lately, and within the past few days redness has shown up around his gills and on the base of his pectoral fins, and a bit around his mouth. Also he's had a stress mustache that hasn't been going away. The last water test I did was less than a week ago, and there was 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and about 5 nitrates. I don't have the test kit at the moment (lent it to my bf). I did a 50% water change yesterday afternoon, during which he puffed up for the first time that I've witnessed (he's never liked water changes... I think the vacuum and my arm rearranging his stuff frightens him. Plus I realized I was wearing a red shirt, which he doesn't like either). The only thing I've added to the tank really recently was some live ghost shrimp on Thursday. Three out of five of them are gone. Does anyone have any idea of what could be causing the stress and redness?

Hmmm, I'm not sure what the cause of the redness would be, but doesn't Melafix help that, seems I remember seeing that listed on the back of the bottle. Doesn't sound good though, whatever the cause is.

What size tank? What kind of puffer?

GSP, 30 gallon. Sorry, I shouldn't have assumed everyone would know my puffer by name lol.

Definitely add Melafix. What's the SG?

SG 1.006
I will get some Melafix first thing in the morning.

Urgent update!!
This morning Pocky is acting very ill. He has been bumping into everything, acting very disoriented and hazy, and I'm sure he is blind. His eyes don't move at all, and doesn't react to anything right in front of his face. Also, the entire "green" part of his body is all dark brown, and it's been that way since I started the Melafix on Tuesday. I just did a big water change and put the activated carbon back in the filter. Also, I put him in a breeder box in his tank so he doesn't hurt himself by getting stuck to the filter or bumping into the rocks and things more.

That's really sad to hear. Are his eyes clouded over at all, or do they look normal?

They aren't clouded over, they could even be a bit darker than normal.

And he just changed like this since when?

I have been researching the symptoms and most of the searches lead me to bacterial infection. Not sure what to medicate with I have never come across this issue maybe someone else can chime in with some more advice good luck.

His body has been dark since Tuesday, but the acting blind is just since this morning.

Bcummings- I have been treating him for a different reason with Melafix which is an antibacterial, but he has gotten worse since then, so I did a water change to get the meds out of the water. I was afraid it could have contributed to it. Like, caused a secondary infection by killing bacteria that wasn't as harmful, allowing more harmful bacteria to thrive... IDK. Maybe I should continue with the meds cuz it's not good to stop antibiotics before they are finished, I just don't know what I should do.

If it's bacterial, then Melafix should have done some good. I don't know what to think about him going "blind" so suddenly. I wish I had some words of wisdom to give you, but I'm racking my brain trying to think of something that might be helpful to you. Make sure he's got plenty of oxygenation where he is.

Yeah, it's just so weird. And I do have a bubble wall, so there should be plenty of O2.