The Puffer Forum

For those who don't know my t. suvattii started puffing up at himself in the relection of my aquariums and after a couple of weeks i got lots of plants rooted at each side which calmed him down.
He had some fin rot about a week after he first puffed up and i healed it nice with malafix. It's been quite awhile now since he recovered and now the plants are all rooted in and he is calmer now.
Problem is that his stomch went black from stress i should imagen and it's not getting better. He is feeding well like always and body looks fine exept the darker stomach. It's been darker since he puffed up aload of times so about a month mabie.

I don't think the fish will be like the 10 months before this happend ever again. Acts different even though they lay still i can tell.

What should i do?

Fish can't see their reflection inside the tank looking out, so that ain't it.

Go ahead and answer all the questions in red - it sounds to me like there's something about the water he doesn't like.

I know some people think that but i can assure you with 110% that is wrong. They can see there reflections and by watching the puffer fish it reacts with it's self. ie. He would stay still then puff a slight bit, he would puff right up then move because he is thinking a arrowhead is facing of and not backing down. It's a old tank & i don't no why they make the sides like mirrors.

It's not the water or i would have filled it all in. The sides are dark on the outside so it's a mirror inside
& like i said he has not puffed up now because both sides of the tanks have loads of plants blocking his way.

In most tanks what you think is a reflection is just an illusion, you're looking at the glass through water at a 90 degree angle.

But if your aquariums sides are mirrored, that's strange. Try and cover them with plants or maybe even some sort of background so that he can no longer see himself. Puffing up all the time is doing him no good and is causing him a lot of stress, which is possibly why is stomach is turning dark.

Just be sure to soak his food in a good liquid multi-vitamin supplement. Boosting the immune system really helps with stress and disease.

The mirror effect on glass had been much discussed on one of a f8 hijacked thread.. Bertie did some pretty wild experiment.. I do still believe there will be some reflection, faint maybe. RTR wouldn't agree, Bertie didn't see anything. Guess U have to literally put your head in to be totally convinced.

If you have live plants, than I'm assuming you have him in freshwater. Why don't you start slowing changing to salinity? Maybe he would do better. What are your water parameters, just out of curiosity?

Gwen

It's a freshwater puffer. Sorry you having a hard time with your puffer mate, if everything is in order I would just watch him for a while and feed just it's favourite food for a few days to try to calm him a little.

Oops, sorry. Just looked at avatar as saw GSP. Thanks!

Lukedt95 wrote:In most tanks what you think is a reflection is just an illusion, you're looking at the glass through water at a 90 degree angle.

But if your aquariums sides are mirrored, that's strange. Try and cover them with plants or maybe even some sort of background so that he can no longer see himself. Puffing up all the time is doing him no good and is causing him a lot of stress, which is possibly why is stomach is turning dark.

Yeah thanks did you read my two posts?

bertie 83 wrote:It's a freshwater puffer. Sorry you having a hard time with your puffer mate, if everything is in order I would just watch him for a while and feed just it's favourite food for a few days to try to calm him a little.

Ok mate thanks i will try that

FADE2BLACK_1973 wrote:Just be sure to soak his food in a good liquid multi-vitamin supplement. Boosting the immune system really helps with stress and disease.

I could try find some liquid vitamins any brands to looks for? Yeah i think his immune system went down after there first few puffs and within a week he had fin rot on one side. thanks

Vitazin is the most common round my area, it certainly won't hurt to add them.

Yeah Bertie can help you out with a good vitamin supplement brand in your country. Those live worms should soak up the liquid muti-vitamin really well. And boosting his immune system is a must.

Yeah i have ordered some today, when i fed him i had a good look at his belly and it's much lighter then i thought it was. He has been calm for weeks but i haven't seen his stomach that well latly. HIs overall colour is perfect. It's not like some gsp's totally black stomachs iv'e seen, it was a darker colour, if you understand me lol