GSP suddenly sick
Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2012 2:45 pm
Hi there, I'm hoping you guys can offer some opinions on what might be wrong with one of my puffers. First off here's this info:
pH- 8.2
Ammonia- 0
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- 0-20 ppm
Salinity- .012
Tank is a 30 gallon with two young green spotted puffers (both about an inch to an inch and a half in length)
I feed them once a day, skipping a day here or there if their bellies still look full; they get a variety of frozen foods as well as freeze dried bloodworms, freeze dried shrimp, snails, and the occasional cricket. I test the water levels and do small water changes once a week and larger ones if i see a spike in ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate.
The tank was set up about two months ago and fully cycled before the puffers were added. For a couple weeks I only had one puffer (Jesse) but decided to get a second (Ganja) when I saw him at the pet store since he was about the same size as Jesse and I figured it was best to introduce them when they were young (And yes I do have a 55g tank to move them into shortly as I know 30g is not big enough for two puffers once they get larger). When I introduced Ganja he was very slightly larger than Jesse and acted as the dominant of the two, a bit aggressive at first but never actually fighting since Jesse seemed to understand his place. I also decided to treat them for internal parasites at this time because I had suspected Jesse might have had them and Ganja was looking thin with a black belly when I purchased him. I used Prazipro, soaked their food in it, and fed them the treated food for about 4 days. They both started looking a lot better and I thought they were both cured. Since then, Jesse has gotten a bit larger than Ganja (and become the dominant of the two) and Ganja still always seemed a bit thin, but healthy aside from that.
On Saturday, I noticed Ganja lying at the bottom of the tank with a dark belly. At first I thought he was just sleeping, but I realized he was looking around as well as making a sort of breathing motion. He did get up to eat when I fed them, but still didn't seem quite well and would just sorta stay in one part of the tank rather than swim around normally. Yesterday I moved from Maine to New York and the puffers actually seemed to do fine with the drive and were both swimming around normally once their tank was set back up. This morning, however, Ganja was back to lying on the bottom of the tank looking sick. I decided to treat him with medicated food, but he now refuses to eat the food that has medicine added to it. He will eat plain food, but slowly and not much of it. Is there anything I can do to convince him to eat the medicated food? Also, is there anything besides internal parasites that might be wrong with him? Jesse is perfectly healthy so I assume there must be an issue with Ganja and not the tank
pH- 8.2
Ammonia- 0
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- 0-20 ppm
Salinity- .012
Tank is a 30 gallon with two young green spotted puffers (both about an inch to an inch and a half in length)
I feed them once a day, skipping a day here or there if their bellies still look full; they get a variety of frozen foods as well as freeze dried bloodworms, freeze dried shrimp, snails, and the occasional cricket. I test the water levels and do small water changes once a week and larger ones if i see a spike in ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate.
The tank was set up about two months ago and fully cycled before the puffers were added. For a couple weeks I only had one puffer (Jesse) but decided to get a second (Ganja) when I saw him at the pet store since he was about the same size as Jesse and I figured it was best to introduce them when they were young (And yes I do have a 55g tank to move them into shortly as I know 30g is not big enough for two puffers once they get larger). When I introduced Ganja he was very slightly larger than Jesse and acted as the dominant of the two, a bit aggressive at first but never actually fighting since Jesse seemed to understand his place. I also decided to treat them for internal parasites at this time because I had suspected Jesse might have had them and Ganja was looking thin with a black belly when I purchased him. I used Prazipro, soaked their food in it, and fed them the treated food for about 4 days. They both started looking a lot better and I thought they were both cured. Since then, Jesse has gotten a bit larger than Ganja (and become the dominant of the two) and Ganja still always seemed a bit thin, but healthy aside from that.
On Saturday, I noticed Ganja lying at the bottom of the tank with a dark belly. At first I thought he was just sleeping, but I realized he was looking around as well as making a sort of breathing motion. He did get up to eat when I fed them, but still didn't seem quite well and would just sorta stay in one part of the tank rather than swim around normally. Yesterday I moved from Maine to New York and the puffers actually seemed to do fine with the drive and were both swimming around normally once their tank was set back up. This morning, however, Ganja was back to lying on the bottom of the tank looking sick. I decided to treat him with medicated food, but he now refuses to eat the food that has medicine added to it. He will eat plain food, but slowly and not much of it. Is there anything I can do to convince him to eat the medicated food? Also, is there anything besides internal parasites that might be wrong with him? Jesse is perfectly healthy so I assume there must be an issue with Ganja and not the tank