The Puffer Forum

there is something wrong with my GSP but im not sure what it is,it started of with my GSP swimming "blindly" and hitting the walls of the tank.i thought it was normal but after awhile it got worst,then i realise his eyes wasnt moving or reacting as much as my another GSP.i could even literally touch him and he wouldnt mind,so i knew something was wrong.later that day it swam belly side up and was at the top area and surface of the tank,i couldnt manage to find any disease like by the look of it.there wasnt like any mould,or the stomach turning black and those kind of things so im really really lost.please help,i dont want another GSP of mine to die

We need to know the following:

Tank size:
Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
Salinity:

Recent changes:
Water change schedule:
Diet:

Please answer all these questions to the best of your ability so we can help you.

If you could get them into a bigger tank then the 15, like a 55-60 gallon may help. Waiting for parameters but sounds like a water quality issue.

Tank size:15gallon
Ammonia: -
Nitrite: -
Nitrate: -
Salinity:

Recent changes:yesterday
Water change schedule: 30% every 3 days
Diet: frozen bloodworm,shrimps

i know for sure that the tank size is small but they are only 1.5inch big and i am planning to get a bigger tank asap,ive gotten them for like a mnth plus now and i havent gotten a kit to check the ammonia,nitrate and nitrite level.only started to change to brackish,salinity still very low

Stop working on the salinity until you have a water testing kit. You need to know your levels before your start changing to brackish, plus you need a hydrometer, or a refractometer.

Do a large change, like 75% as soon as you can. Then start doing two 50% changes a day. One in the morning, one in the evening.

I suspect you've killed your bacteria off by adding salt and now your tank is cycling.

Yea lots of large partials, start raising the sg when you have them in a more suitable tank. Although small they are massive waste producers 15g can't dilute that much, for instance we would only recommend 3x dps in that size because of bio-load. When you get the new tank you could always set it up as marine (fowlr) and drip acclimate him. But let's get him well first so lots of water changes, do you use prime? If so add another dose or two to your next change.

+1 on to not worrying about SG right now...You have plenty of time to keep FW.

so my GSP is acting that way due to his waste?

When you raise the salinity of your tank you must do it in increments of .002 with a pause in-between of a few days to allow the bacteria to adjust and establish into the environment. You've been changing the salinity without a way to measure what the current salinity of the tank is at and likely killed off your bacteria by changing the salinity to much. There is now a lower number of bacteria which means your tank is getting a build up of bioload that isn't being converted. Start doing 2 wc a day to get the salinity back down to 0 and check when you get the hydrometer. Also give us parameters when you can.

Most likely to be honest

zulfvdlee wrote:so my GSP is acting that way due to his waste?

specifically, he is probably being poisoned by the by-products of his waste, namely ammonia & nitrites, and to an extent, nitrates
these are not a problem in a cycled tank, but under your circumstances, that is not likely
you need the necessary liquid test kits to monitor the water parameters, AND a bigger tank so there will be less concentration of any harmful substances in the water
the immediate short-term method of reducing the concentration of these substances is (as already mentioned) lots of water changes

See if you can find a cheap, used tank somewhere. I don't really know what the options in your country are for finding aquariums but start looking for a much bigger one.

Your puffer is very, very likely to die if you don't get him upgraded very soon. Definitely keep up the large partial changes daily until you can get a bigger tank. Also, as recommended start using double, or even triple the amount of Prime you'd normally use. If you don't use Prime, see if you can find it as it will be a big help for your puffer.