The Puffer Forum

Had my tank for about 6 months, 2 green spotted puffers, one died this week and I'm worried the other is looking sick. I don't have any other fish in the tank.

Attached is a photo of him, he looks a little dull and gray. Should I be worried? I've changed the water twice (about 30-40% each time) since the other fish died, so the numbers may not reflect what killed the other guy. I feed them freeze dried Jumbo Krill.

Details:
Tank Size: 15 Gal - doing more frequent water changes to compensate for size
pH: 7
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 20
Hardness: 150
Chlorine: 0
Alkalinity: 120
Salinity PPT: 8

Any thoughts? Should I be worried? I bought some Pimafix and Melafix based on some other posts.

that is all you feed him?

It could be a nutritional imbalance.

BTW.. welcome to the forum!!

J-P wrote:that is all you feed him?

It could be a nutritional imbalance.

Yes, that's all I feed them with the occasional blood worms (but not very often). Suggestions on other things to augment it's diet with? I don't think my fish store has been giving me very good advice based on what I'm discovering in these forums

J-P wrote:BTW.. welcome to the forum!!

Thanks for the welcome!

He absolutley needs more in his diet - he needs snails, snails & more snails! Earthworms, woodlice, mussel, squid,brine shrimp, cockle - there is a feeding article on the forum - have a read through.

Here's the previously mentioned feeding article. It has a lot of good ideas in it

library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/

Can you provide us with a full tank shot? What is the nitrate content in your tap water? 20 is at the upper recommended range of nitrate for a puffer so if your tap water has 0ppm-ish you'll want to do more water changes

You need a nitrite test too.

Appreciate all the great advice so far!! (really happy I found this forum)

Flutter wrote:Can you provide us with a full tank shot?

Had to leave town on business, I will get a full tank shot when i'm back (girl friend is watching over the little guy while I'm gone). A few notes on the overall tank, it does not have any live plants, only fake ones. I have 2 filters running now (added the second one after the puffer died), the new one has a built in aerator. I recently noticed some green algae building up (not a lot, just a few small patches). I did a thorough scraping of the tank sides and rinsed off a few of the big rocks in fresh water that had algae growing on them. I think the algae is because I had accidently left the blinds open when the sun shines at the tank. I'm making sure I keep the blinds closed during the day.

Pufferpunk wrote:You need a nitrite test too.

I'll get a Nitrite test when I get back.

bigfatfish wrote:He absolutley needs more in his diet - he needs snails, snails & more snails! Earthworms, woodlice, mussel, squid,brine shrimp, cockle

I added some snails to the tank when I left... my other freshwater tank with my mollies has an abundant number of them so they wont be missed. He ate one of them pretty quickly. I'll start adjusting his diet right away.

Not to be pushy, but did anyone look at the photo I included in my first post? Should I be concerned with his grayish appearance? He switches between been lethargic and been very active and appearing happy. Having a tough time determine if he's sick or not. I'm continuing to change the water regularly.

Grey can be caused by many things, stress being the most common. Make sure you keep your water parameters under control., that is a common cause of stress. Hope you are considering a tank upgrade in the near future, these guys need min. 30 gallons for a singleton.

Does his colour improve when he is active? If so, it could just be his "sleeping" colours - they often take on a duller appearance when at rest.