The Puffer Forum

Hello everyone, great site. I have a pair of GSPs in a 50G brackish water tank, A-N-N is 0-0-0, ph is 7.9 and they seem very happy, but I've just got a few questions. when I first got them (2 months ago) one developed a fungal infection on his eye, but responded very quickly to antifungal medecine (it cleared up in a few days), but since then he seems to have lost the ability to judge distances - I hand feed him and he tries to bite when the food is about 1cm away from his mouth. he seems to be happy in spight of this, but I was wondering whether people think he might have gone blind in one eye? And if so could he conceivably recover, or would this cause more problems later on?

Also, my other puffer 'puffed' this morning. He is generally quite shy but I've never seen him do it before, even when I've had to catch him, and there was nothing I could see which would have caused him to do it this morning. He had just been fed, and swam around then 'puffed', looked bemused, and deflated himself. Could he have been 'practicing'?

Sometimes puffers like to practice. Your puffer could be blind but I don't know of anything that could help him, sorry.

Thanks for the help. He's definitely not totally blind but it is quite sad when he bumps into things cause he doesn't know how far away they are. and I'm glad they like to practice, puts my mind at rest.

Your tank is on the small side. It could be that he is bored or practising. Keep an eye out for anything else off.

If we need glasses, whose to say the other beings of the animal world wouldn't? You could try Melafix, to help heal. Actually, that's all I would've used on it.

Nah he's acting totally normally, so hopefully just a practice session, he hasn't done it since. I think it was the infection that has affected the other ones vision, as it found food and ate it quickly and easily before it got the infection, and though it has totally healed now its vision has definitely been a bit dodgy ever since.

Is my tank far too small then? I know puffers stunt easily but was under the impression that they'd be OK for a while in 50gs, I'm planning on upgrading when I move back home from Uni and have more space, but if they're gonna be stressed I'll do it before.

How long is that? The sooner the better. You don't want to wait to long or they'll get stunted.

This summer, so I'll have had them for 4 months in 50gs by then, and they were about 1.5 inches when I bought them.

I'm not 100% sure but I think that they may be stunted by then.

Right well I'll have to re-evaluate my plans then. Seems a shame to upgrade just to get an extra 10gs, (they want 30gs minimum right?) but can't really go much bigger or it'll be tricky to get them home. I was planning on setting up a 100G SW tank at home, getting it cycled for a month or two before taking my GSPs back, but I suppose I might have to rethink this.

Incidentally, does anyone have any tips for transporting them? I was planning on getting plastic lined ice box and battery operated aerator for the 1 and a half hour drive, tank-to-tank. I was going to trust to the insulation of the box and ambient temp of the car to maintain temperature, will this be OK?

Thanks for all the help.

Two small puffers in a 50 will not likely be stunted in 3-4 months. If they are over 3" each, there could be cause for some concern.

Yes, they need 30 gallons each. For both, 60 gallons. For transportation, there are special bags that allow air inside so I don't think you will need the air pump if you do this. The bags are called Kordon's breathable bags.

I don't know if I'd suggest Kordon's breatheable bags for puffers, they are very thin bags and a puffer could easily bite through them.

For transporting, I've done the cooler/battery air pump and bagging.. both work and for just an hour or so it won't really matter which you do. I'd probably go the cooler route though myself.

One thing to keep in mind when transporting - the insulated box or cooler may have bright white interiors and that can visually shock some fish & cause a flight or panic response. Always line the interior of a bright white transport container with black plastic (as in a plastic trash bag), then bag the fish in a normal fish bag, as the black plastic may have chemicals.