The Puffer Forum

I've had 2 GSP for about 3 months ones seems to be fine and happy (white belly bright color with an almost florecent spot on its head) the other seems to be sick, it has labored breathing, hasn't ate (that I've seen) in 3 weeks and sits in one of the caves most of the time. Its also has white stringy poop after some research I thought it was internal parasites so I rested with general cure from api, after the first dose the was a long string of poop trailing the puffer about 3 inches long a few days later after the second dose there was another string trailing behind him this time only about 3/4 inch this time (that was yesterday) the fish has still not ate and still has stress lines, but has regained a very small about of activity... Im getting ready to do my weekly water change but other than that I'm not sure what else to do or try.. now for the questions.

1. Ammonia 1ppm
PH 8.2
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Salinity 1.008

2. 30gal. 2 gsp... I know its to small been looking for a bigger tank but no luck yet

3. I feed them frozen blood worms or freeze dried shrimp, I've tried frozen plankton and squid but neither ate it, I change 50% of the water every Saturday, I use instant ocean not aquarium salt

4. I removed an old large bubble wall and added 3 smaller individual air stones

5. Tank has been set up 3 months, unfortunately I didn't know anything about aquariums or cycling so the first were added 24 hrs. After the tank was set up

But like I mentioned they both were fine for the first 6 weeks then the one stopped eating the other still happy as ever..

Sorry for the lengthy post just wanted to b as informative as possible, and thanks inadvance for any help/advice

There's so many things this could be - the fact the tank seems to have a stalled cycle after the nitrite spike, the effects of a nitrite spike on the immune system of the fish, the potential for opportunistic infections (both fungal and bacterial) on a compromised immune system, the possibility of incomplete IP treatment, variety of food being rejected...

Cycle wise, I hate advocating a single product, but shall mention ones I have used with success... for stalled cycles - Bacterlife (made by Waterlife) - dose daily until you see 0 Ammonia for 3 consecutive days, then weekly with water changes

IP treatment - Jungle fizz tablets - soak food in it - preferably snails, bloodworms, peas (things with the capacity to absorb as much as possible)

Opportunistic infections - What are it's fins like? are they nice and smooth at the ends? or a bit ragged? if ragged dose the tank with pimafix to treat fungal infection. If nice and smooth, dose with melafix to treat potential bacterial infection (I'd do both anyway, considering they have been through a cycling tank)

Snails should be a massive part of their diet (80%) and shrimp, crabs legs, peas, various worms making up the remainder - freeze dried foods will never go down well and some puffers would rather starve to death than eat freeze dried

Sounds alot, but all the above treatments are harmless, but necessary in my opinion - the sooner the tank is fully cycled the better

See what others have to say also, the above is just my opinion and may or may not be advocated

Puffers crammed into smaller quarters are more prone to bullying & territorial issues. Watch closely to see if the weaker puffer is skittish and gets harassed by the "happy" one.

Lots more water changes, I'd do 50% 3x/week. You MUST get & keep that ammonia at 0. ANY ammonia is extremely toxic to your fish. I'd say to use one of the store bought bottles of bacteria but at 1.008, you're right in the middle of FW-SW bacteria. You could being the SG down or get it higher, to make one of them work for you. Otherwise, lots & lots of WC.

What's holding you back from purchasing a larger tank? They're pretty much at any store you go to, or used on Craigslist.

squaffer:
i forgot to mention a few things i guess, i have snails in a floating breeder they get out on thier own but i also throw a few in the tank every other day, the fins on both fish look nice, no red lines and not ragged or torn up, i dosed with melafix and pimafix the first week i noticed the fish not eating and being "lazy" it cleared up the cloud eyes in the happy one but the sick one was unaffected, prior to the fish getting sick they most had no problem with freeze dried shrimp (only feed this 1-2 times a week) and soaking the food seems pointless since he doesnt eat i mean he shows no interest in food just swims right past it

sgtmyers:
i watch my fish daily they get along well, swim close by on a regular basis some times close enough to brush fins, neither tend to swim off fast or act scared they share the same cave, the only tension ive seen was during feeding time before the one got sick, but the sick one was the more aggressive one anyway

pufferpunk:
ill start changing my water more and ive been working on raising the sg my goal is 1.010 - 1.012 (they are pretty small still) i bought them from a fish store and was told a 10 gal freshwater tank would b fine, after they started doing bad i started researching and moved them to the tank they are in now (what i could afford at the time) i have a bottle of stress zyme that i used when i filled the aquarium would that help? ive been looking for a used 90-120 gal tank but $ is tight so ive been trying to wait for a good deal


forgot to mention that befor treating with general cure the fish stomach looked full (dispite not eating for weeks) since he has became skinny i assume there was some parasites and are now gone? his gills also seem to be inflamed but seems to switch from side to side, thanks for all the suggestions

Soaking his food in garlic, may enhance appetite.

Soaked his bloodworms in garlic last night, after I put it in he came flying out of his cave and "sniffed" the food i thought he was gunna eat it, then went back in his cave and sat there most of the night... any other ideas or suggestion on why he won't eat or how to get him to eat ( I was considering a gut loaded ghost shrimp) I read sometimes puffers sulk and live food helps snap than out of it


PS. I saw another white stringy poo too but only a few millimeters in length and I've noticed they he seems to come out of his cave a little more if I leave the light off

I feel like I'm forgetting to mention something so I'll add it later if I think of it but I'm happy to answer any questions that might help u aid me in curing my fish, thanks again for the help so far