The Puffer Forum

I have had my GSP since October. He is in brackish water and has currently been eating dried krill, blood worms, and live ghost shrimp. Today we changed the substrate from gravel to a pre mixed nitrate filled sand from a salt water fish store. I also added some live rock and a little piece of coral, also some small snails for the first time because I was worried his beak was getting a little long ( I am not sure though because I dont know what to look for?) Now his mouth is red, not bright red but enough that I noticed. Also right after I acclimated him to his new environment his belly got a black dot for about two hours then went away,Any suggestion?

He is in a 10 gallon
About 2.5 inches
beautiful colors
full fins

Thanks

I'm a little confused--is he in SW now? Did you just raise it to SW? How long did that take? If he's only in BW & you added all those things from a SW tank, all the live SW bacteria will die off in there & you will have an entire crash of the system, starting with high ammonia/nitrite & quickly followed by the death of the puffer.

Your tank is too small for him. As long as you were upgrading the environment, you should have upgraded the tank size too. At >2", he needs a minimum of 30g now.

library/puffers-in-focus/an-introductio ... d-puffers/
library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/

He is in full salt and has been for 3 months. I know he needs a bigger tank, I bought a 55 gallon but I am in the process of moving across the state and I am waiting till I get settled to start cycling the new tank:)

You shouldn't have to do much to cycle a SW tank, if you can get established LR. As far as his mouth,try using SW Melafix on him. Is his beak overgrown?

He eats fine, so no. I'll try what you suggested. Thanks

You still are not feeding any crunchy foods to him though. Read the feeding article I posted.

Unfortunantley I came across a GSP at the fish store yesterday while buying some crunchy food for mine. There GSP beak was so overgrown it couldn't open its mouth, its whole underside was pitch black. The guy at the store says they are waiting for it to die, is there nothing that could be done at this point?

they could trim his teeth but they either inexperienced or dont care probably the later of the 2 grrr

gnbpilot@yahoo.com wrote:Unfortunantley I came across a GSP at the fish store yesterday while buying some crunchy food for mine. There GSP beak was so overgrown it couldn't open its mouth, its whole underside was pitch black. The guy at the store says they are waiting for it to die, is there nothing that could be done at this point?

What?? Argh thats so upsetting. Even though I know people would probably be hesitant at the idea, they could at least do some research. From what Ive read its not hard, only takes some patience and a steady hand. Their beak is like a fingernail, and the process is just about like clipping a fingernail. Of course, the sedation method for the puffer is the tricky part... I saw a video on it some while back. My one puffer has a noticeable beak, he looks a bit bucktoothed, but as its not overlapping his lower jaw hes still fine. I just have to keep him eating snails and shelled foods. If it came to the point though, Im prepared to trim his beak if need be. I wouldnt just do nothing about it though! Poor puffers!

In the top pic he looks a bit thin...or could just be the angle. Have you noticed stringy or white poops? What kind of corals did you put in? Is he nipping them? Maybe something is stinging him. Have you noticed any sort of hitchhikers on your LR?

Print & bring in my Pufferfish Dentistry article, found in the Hosp section of our Library.

I went to the bad LFS and took the sickly GSP from them. I brought him home and after watching the Arizoniafishkeeper.com I followed his detailed instructions and successfully trimmed the little guys beak. Knowing I couldn't risk keeping him in my tank with my smaller GSP I took him to the best saltwater fish store I have ever seen about 30 mins from where and live. The owner only handles saltwater fish and coral, his tanks are set up for the fish as if they were in your house not like the small plastic tub I found this GSP in. He put the GSP in a tank of his own and started treatment for parasites and pop eye. I checked on him yesterday and his stress colors are starting to disappear!!

Great save!

gnbpilot@yahoo.com wrote:I went to the bad LFS and took the sickly GSP from them. I brought him home and after watching the Arizoniafishkeeper.com I followed his detailed instructions and successfully trimmed the little guys beak. Knowing I couldn't risk keeping him in my tank with my smaller GSP I took him to the best saltwater fish store I have ever seen about 30 mins from where and live. The owner only handles saltwater fish and coral, his tanks are set up for the fish as if they were in your house not like the small plastic tub I found this GSP in. He put the GSP in a tank of his own and started treatment for parasites and pop eye. I checked on him yesterday and his stress colors are starting to disappear!!

Awesome! If only we could save all of these guys from ignorant inadequate care.