figure 8 questions

[figure8]

so ive had my figure 8 puffer for almost 2 years now, and ive had a fight with a hunger strike, which i won and hes eating. ever since i got him, he had a small dark blotch on his side, and its grown a bit larger, ive tested and i cant find a reason for it, all my parameters are good my salinity is 1.010, temp is 82, plus he seams more active at the end of the day and when the moon lights are on. any ideas?

[Pufferpunk]

Pic?

[Pufferpunk]

Pic?

[figure8]

i cant get a good pic right now

[bertie 83]

Why is your salinity so high? That's double what it should be which equals a massive waste of salt. 1.003 - 1.005 is best for them long term

[sgtmyers88]

+1 to the above

[figure8]

in doing reasurch i came accross sites that stated half strength salt water and such, and i was also planning on having bumble bee gobies in the tank as well, so i settled on 1.008 to 1.010, what i was doing was every now and then id fluctuate the salinity to better simulate the natural environment, i just got into the habit of 1.010, so seeing that its too high, ill drop the salinity over the next few days. i also thought i read somewhere that puffers will darken a bit over a dark substraight, is this true or am i crazy?

[bertie 83]

Never fluctuate sg too much, a change of more than 0.002 per week can take out your tanks bacteria. Puffers do darken against a dark substrate, natural camouflage.

[Pufferpunk]

library/puffers-in-focus/fig8/

[figure8]

i stopped fluctuating the salinity a long time ago, and im dropping the salinity,

[bertie 83]

Ok it will give him his optimal conditions. Tell us more about the dark spot, does it move? If you could get a pic it would help us massively, however it can be tricky with the more active puffers when you are by the tank

[figure8]

when hes facing the glass the spot is under his left pectral fin, extends half way to his tail and forward to just under his eye, and extends to almost half way on his belly, its oval in shape and is very dark grey. hes allways had a spot in that area, sometimes a little bigger, sometimes a little smaller. it never moved around per say, just changed size, usally around water change time and when he needed to be moved. recetly it grew to the size it is now, i do see a slight darkening around the mouth and by the base of his caudal fin. other than the dark belly, hes acting mostly the way he used to, i could never get good pictures unless he was in a jar, and my camara isnt too good,

[bertie 83]

That makes more sense, it could just be stress, slowly drop your salinity and it will likely disappear. Please keep us posted about your puffers progression

[figure8]

we will see what happens, ill keep you updated