The Puffer Forum

I had a small scare tonight as I came back home from my evening class I went over to check up and say hi to my GSP's and noticed that they had grey bellys and stress lines and their green was a very dull color. But as they saw me and started swimming toward the glass the stress lines and dark bellies disappeared and their colors grew brilliant again. Should I be concerned or did I just startle them from sleeping?

I do know my salinity is the same as before and the ammonia levels are ok from my 50 percent water change 2 days ago. Should I do additional testing to my water or was this just a behavioral quirk from my puffers?

sgtmyers88 wrote:I had a small scare tonight as I came back home from my evening class I went over to check up and say hi to my GSP's and noticed that they had grey bellys and stress lines and their green was a very dull color. But as they saw me and started swimming toward the glass the stress lines and dark bellies disappeared and their colors grew brilliant again. Should I be concerned or did I just startle them from sleeping?

I do know my salinity is the same as before and the ammonia levels are ok from my 50 percent water change 2 days ago. Should I do additional testing to my water or was this just a behavioral quirk from my puffers?

If you are testing and coming back with ammonia, it sounds like your tank is mid cycle and you may now have nitrites. If you have nitrItes (not nitrates) that could potentially cause grey bellies. Personally, if I knew my tank was mid cycle, I would try to track down some bio-spira and add it to my filter. The cycling could do some permanent damage to your puffs.

You may want to wait until others pitch in. But I would definitely test all params of the water and post them here to give others a good basis to start from.

Yes please post water readings

There is no such thing as an "ok" ammonia level. NO ammonia level is okay. This is why it's important to post exact numbers when asking about problems.

Sounds like sleeping coloration. Animals turn darker to blend in with their environment when sleeping, as to deter prey from spotting them.

Pufferpunk wrote:Sounds like sleeping coloration. Animals turn darker to blend in with their environment when sleeping, to deter prey from spotting them.

in case you missed it.