The Puffer Forum

We went to bed last night at 4am. When the tank lights came on at 10am, we couldn't find the puffer swimming. Then I looked carefully and found him dead. It was strange, since when we went to bed, he was still swimming around. He seemed pretty happy and healthy, if you ask me...

We got him Tuesday night, so I fed him that night and Wednesday. He was fasted on Thursday and got some food yesterday. I didn't think he was overfed at all.

His water tests came out fine as well...0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 7 nitrates. I bought him back to the LFS and also had them test out the tank water. They confirmed that it was fine.

They've all sold out of their F8's but will be getting more in on Tuesday. I'll give them a call and see if they can hold one for me. I'm going to try again for the F8. If the next one doesn't work survive, I may just give up on puffers entirely.

dont give up on puffers do you have any idea what killed him?

Edited for language - RTR

Did you save the body in the freezer? If its a very good (or lucky) shop, it may have someone working there who can do a cursory necropsy. This is a long shot, but who knows.

How's the pH & temp & salinity?

The store actually kept the puffer there.

The SG in the tank was at 1.001. I was trying to raise the salt level gradually since he was kept basically in freshwater. The tank temp was about 78 degrees, and the PH is 8.0.

There was a decoration in the tank that was close to the tank wall. I found him between the decoration and the glass. I do know that he was a curious puffer and liked to go exploring. Part of me thinks that maybe he got too curious in that part of the tank and actually got himself stuck there. Then another part of me wonders maybe he died of something else and then the current of the filter pushed him into that corner of the tank.

It's possible he might of gone there to die? I wouldn't expect him to die from being stuck within that little ammount of time, they don't need the surface like some other fish for air or anything... My friend had a pleco stuck in a fake log for a few days and it's fine now.