The Puffer Forum

PH 8.2
Ammonia 8 ppm
Nitrite 5 ppm
Nitrate 10 ppm

8 gallon tank with 3 inch puffer, bumblebee goby and 3 red claw crabs for food

I feed him once a day with live blood worms. Water changes every 2 weeks. I add aquarium salt weekly. The most recent change was turning the tank to brackish water. aquarium has been running for a month now.

I have a 3 inch figure 8 puffer in an 8 gallon tank. He was in my 55 gallon but i had the tank divided. I moved him into the 8 gallon and he stopped eating and his eyes sucked in. I changed the water to brackish and his eyes looked way better but still haven't seen him eat anything. Now his eyes are sucking back in and he still won't eat and there are plenty of red claw crabs (which are his favorite) in the tank. what could be the problem and how do I fix it and what is wrong with him.

and yes i know the ammonia is high and i am dealing with that right now

That tank is way too small for a F8. Minimum of 15g just for the F8 alone. He's not gonna eat the crabs, they're too big & the shell is too hard. They're just adding to the bioload. Do a 90% WC & add Tetra's Safestart to the filter. That should solve the ammonia problem, IF you upgrade the tank. Otherwise, you're always going to have issues with the water quality. Also, that fish likes to swim!

As far as him being skinny, you're going to have to soak his food in anti-parasite meds. Look for Jungle Parasite Clear fizzy tabs.

right now the only option is to keep him in the 8 gallon brackish or put him in a 110 gallon freshwater with cichlids and i don't thing that will be a smart idea. I don't have another tank and don't have money to just go set up another tank. he actually loves the crabs. its his favorite food.

You should be able to find a cheap tank on Craigslist. Even so, you're going to have to do something about that ammonia/nitrite & IPs RIGHT NOW, of he doesn't stand a chance. That tank's not cycled. Start doing 80% water changes 2x/day. Stop adding salt until the parameters are stable for at least 2 weeks.

the tank was cycled with freshwater for 2 weeks before i put him in. then i slowly made it into brackish water for a week. i am acclimating him back to freshwater and putting him in the 110 gallon for now until the 8 gallon is corrected. its weird tho because the bumblebee goby and the craps are perfectly fine.

Please do not add a sick fish to your healthy fish, unless you want to treat all of them for IPs. Why not just bring the tank back to FW & add filter media from the 110 to it?

what is IPs

Internal parasites.

i put him back in the 8 gallon and added bifurin. now he isn't moving and barely breathing. i think i lost him

That's not what I told you to do. IDK why you medicated the tank with an anti-bacterial... Puffers are VERY sensitive to meds & anti-bacterial will kill off what little nitrification bacteria you mmight have started growing in there. Do a 90% water change RIGHT NOW!

put freshwater or brackish in the tank???

and i medicated it cause the LFS said to do that. I took the fish in and had them look at it.

FW, do a huge water change and dechlorinate appropriately. If you use Prime multiply the regular dose by 4x. Put the puffer in clean FW in the small tank. No medications, no salt. Get some filter media from your 110gal tank and put it in the 8gal filter. This will help cycle the tank.

did the water change and all that. can't really get filter media from other tank. its inside a huge fluxal canister