The Puffer Forum

My GSP bob is acting sick, his stomach is sunkin in and he won't eat. What should I test for in his water parameters and how will I know if he suddenly got a bad parasite? his mout is always open, and the last time I saw him eat it looked like he was having trouble or it was lodged in his mouth and he couldn't consume it (a shrimp). He seems to be breathing heavy as well. I did a 50 percent water change yesterday and added salt to try to help, but nothing is helping. The water is mid brackish and he seems upset. I haven't seen him pooping either. This is really upsetting me :[ I feel bad for him. Please helppp.

Please answer these questions...

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.

Moved topic to Hospital.

Thanks Lilgreenpuffer!

To the OP, please hurry and answer..puffs go down quickly!!

Thanks for all your help. everyone. I to go to a fathers day event this afternoon and when I returned home Bob had passed away. I bought the test strips on the way home, set me back 20 bucks, but that doesn't matter. I miss him RIP bob. I don't think I'll consider buying another puffer until I can get a biocube or something.

Honestly, I did think of all the things I did before he got sick, and one I can think of is using my scrub brush with a handle to remove some algae while doing tank maintainence. I just got off the phone with my mother (moved out recently) and I guess she mistook it for something to clean toilets with, so she used it with some pretty heavy chemicals to clean the toilet. What a horrifying way to die. I feel so bad, but I am glad I moved out. At least this way, no one is going to touch my stuff and do negligent things that lead to things like this.

RIP Bob, he was by far the most inquisitive and intelligent creature I've ever owned with fins.