The Puffer Forum

1. pH: 8.0, Ammonia: goes between 0.5-2.0 in a week, Nitrite: 0, Nitrate: 0.5, salinity: 1.010.

2. 29 gal w/4 GSP (I know they are over crowded. Working on that).

3. Feeding: Tropical fish flakes daily (they don't eat very many), goldfish every 3-4 days, snails every month. Water changes: 80-90% weekly, add instant ocean salt and Prime.

4. No changes made in last week or so.

5. Tank has been set up for 2 1/2 months. Didn't cycle tank, didn't know I had to at the time (hence the name pufferidiot :0).

Is there anything I can do to help my puffie unpuff? It puffed up approx 12pm MST. It is still breathing, but the current was pushing it all around. Now it is stuck in some fake plants.

Pufferidiot wrote:1. pH: 8.0, Ammonia: goes between 0.5-2.0 in a week, Nitrite: 0, Nitrate: 0.5, salinity: 1.010.

2. 29 gal w/4 GSP (I know they are over crowded. Working on that).

3. Feeding: Tropical fish flakes daily (they don't eat very many), goldfish every 3-4 days, snails every month. Water changes: 80-90% weekly, add instant ocean salt and Prime.

4. No changes made in last week or so.

5. Tank has been set up for 2 1/2 months. Didn't cycle tank, didn't know I had to at the time (hence the name pufferidiot :0).

Is there anything I can do to help my puffie unpuff? It puffed up approx 12pm MST. It is still breathing, but the current was pushing it all around. Now it is stuck in some fake plants.

Hold the puffer by the tail so head is pointing up and gently wave from side to side , to help it deflate ....
You really need to get a bigger tank asap (they'll land up fighting in such a small space ..hence ..), as for the feeding flakes and live feeders are no good ....stick to snails and other crunchy foods , cockles , muscles etc and the odd live crab or cray as a treat ( watch the pincers if your puffers are on the small side , take them off it not sure )

+1 to the above. You may need to attempt burping more than once. I feel I have to highlight that flakes should not be fed and nor should goldfish. I don't even feed my tetras flakes and they like them. The foods suggested above with some veggies thrown in would be a suitable diet. The excessive overcrowding is giving an ammonia reading which is slowly poisoning them, can you not return 3 of them? Or find a huge tank secondhand?

Did u do anything that gave him the possibility to take in air or was it something else? If he puff up with air, he would be inverted at the surface but u said now he's stuck in some fake plants.. Unless U have very tall or floating fake plants.. If he puffed up with water, dun think burping would help much..

What kind of filtration do U have? Your readings looks quite wrong.. Your water change schedule is very wrong for a uncycled tank.

My guess is either the other puffers terrorized him into puffing or he's sick from the parameters.

My guess is either the other puffers terrorized him into puffing or he's sick from the toxic parameters.