The Puffer Forum

Hi I'm new here, probably this will be my one and only post unfortunately

I got my green spotted puffer 8 years ago on the first date with my husband. He is a really special puffer, because he has been with us our whole relationship. I am assuming he is around 10 years ago because he was a decent size in 2005 and perfect fin condition. (no nipped fins) The last 5 days he has stopped eating and curling in his tail. Now he has stopped fluttering his fins and resting on his side, but still alive. I tried to hand feed him with tweezers because he is wasting away. Every time I come over to the tank to check on him to see if he's passed he starts sucking like he is expecting to be fed and thrashing around. It breaks my heart to see him wasting away, but at the same token I don't have the heart to flush him down the toilet alive to die in a dark septic. I just want him to die comfortably. I know it's just a fish and they don't have any feelings, so I guess this is just for me. What should I do???

GSPs should live into their late teens. Was he an adult when you got him? It is possible he might just be dying of old age.

Please answer ALL the questions above in red, so we can rule out any problems with the water.

If he seems to be suffering & you are interested in euthanizing him, let me know.

I have no clue how old he was at the fish store when we got him. As I said he was a decent size and I never have seen this particular store carry puffers as large as mine. I would say he was 2.5 inches (from what i remember) when I got him and he really didn't grow all that much since 2005. He seemed to have gotten wider because he used to push himself and squeeze between the filter and the glass and one day he couldn't do it anymore and he stopped that trick.

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate).
pH is about 7.8
Nitrates- 0 PPM mg/L
Nitrates- 3.0 ppm mg/L
Ammonia- 0 ppm mg/L TO .25 CANT TELL
Salinity- 1.010


2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.

40 gallon tank with 1 scat

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
every other day and marine salt with well water.

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.

nothing. Changed water two weeks ago and then after saw him acting funny i changed it again

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.

Fluval 120 vac 60 Hz 15w
It has been setup for a few years now. Cycle? I'm not sure what this means!! oh no i'm i doing something wrong?! no one told me about cycling?!?!

We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.

This is what he looks like also
Please help!

Here is ammonia level

I forgot to mention I have strong suspicion that my puffer went blind at some point because when I put food in the tank he would thrash around in the tank and hit the glass before finding the krill or mysis

I posted all the info you wanted why isn't is posting?? Very frustrating!

I am desparate. This is really upsetting me he hasn't eaten in a week! He's on the bottom of the tank still breating and moving his eyes and not moving much.

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
pH -7.8
Nitrite - 0 ppm mg/L
Nitrates - 0 ppm mg/L
Ammonia is 0-25?
Salinity 1.010


2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
1 scat, 40 gallon tank
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
every other day, changed water last week and this week.
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
NONE
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
Tank has been setup for a few years. Fuval filter

We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.

How much water do you change out? What conditioner are you using? How big is the scat?
What foods do you offer him--what has he eaten in the past?

I have not used any water conditioner in 8 years. Usually I do a 25% water change when I do it. Tonight I did 40%
Spoke with the fish store today and he said messing with chemical right now when the fish in under stress is not a good idea. I know my pH could stand to come up, but he said right now it's now worth the risk to mess with chemicals and to keep doing water changes every 2 days and hope for the best. He has seen a lot of fish come out of near dead situations and recover, so he told me to hold off on euthanising at this point. I hope that's the case!

I'd say the Scat is about 3.5 to 4 inches long.

Mr. puffer developed a white growth years ago on his belly, but it never got any larger. This was maybe 3-4 years ago.

You need to dechlorinate the water. Chlorine can cause the gills to burn: library/water-filtration/youchlorinechloramines/

You need to dechlorinate the water. Chlorine can cause the gills to burn: library/water-filtration/youchlorinechloramines/

There is no chlorine in the water, it's well water.

That's good. Could you please answer my other questions?

Brackish water will make the API ammonia test look like the yellow has a green tint to it. It has always done this for me.

Also the pleco should not be in 1.010 SG. Please, please remove it and probably the algae eaters.

I wouldn't worry about the 7.8 pH if it is stabale...That probably isn't your problem.

Good luck, I hope everybody recovers.