The Puffer Forum

I have resantly bought 4 GSP,& 2 SILVER SCATS. They are in a 60 gal. low brakish tank ( sg is about 1.007). One of the SPG has died already, they were started off in a fresh water tank as they were bought that way. After doing alot of studying and research on these fish, Iam slowly bringing the sg level up as they grow. They are still young, yhe GSP are 1 1/2 --- 2 inches , and the Scats are about the size of a gold dollar. My concern is the GSP that died I only had about 2 days. He/She was very dark colored all over and didnt move much or eat. ( still in fresh at time of death).After moving to a slow riseing brakish tank,another GSP is now turning a darkish color, some of his/her belly is still white, but very bottom is very dark.I have treated all the fish for int.&ext. parasites and for ich.This GSP doesnt eat anything. At first he/she just layed on the bottom of the tank but is now swimming around. The other 2 SPG are doing great,shinny green color & white belly.eating good to.(freeze dried bloodworms& plankton, shell on shrimp & tiny snails for there teeth,& also ghost shrimp).My tank info is as follows. ph is a 7-8 ,amonia is .10 , nitrate is a 15 , nitrite is a 0 , & the sg is a 1.007 . There is plenty of hiding places , view blockers. the temp of the tank is 81* f. What can this possibly be ?

Ok the GSP are turning dark because of stress and or they are unhappy of some water parameters. Did you cycle your tank before introducing the puffers and scats? If you didn't you should return whats left of your GSP's to your LFS as soon as you can till you can cycle your tank using either a product known as biospira, or you perform a fishless cycle. My main concern after reading this is your tank size and the ammonia reading. **FYI AMMONIA SHOULD BE AT 0** Plus a GSP should be kept in an aquarium that provides 30gallons per GSP. Sounds like you have a really high bio load for that tiny tank. Have you done any water changes to help lower the ammonia? If not do a 25% change every few days.

60g is not a tiny tank, although the tank should be cycled before adding the fish. I would do a 50% water change & add FW Bio-Spira to instantly cycle the tank. Eventually, I would figure on 30g for each of your fish, which would come out to a 180g tank, as the fish mature into adu.t size. Are you prepared for that. At that point they should be in SW. Are you ready for the expense of that much salt, doing 50% weekly water changes, filtration & protein skimmer, good enough to handle a very large bioload?

Why did you treat for all those diseases? Were they all that sick?

I just wanted to comment a little about your fish. I recieved a Scat for a present because a friend thought it would look great with my two spotted puffers. The scat was the same size as yours, and grew very quicky, in the three months that I had it. It had very nice side fins, then one day my puffers ate its side fins off for no reason

The tank has been cycled, amonia is at 0,nitrite 0,nitrate 5.0, ph 7.4, &the sg 1.008 ... How long do I have before they reach adult size ? I treated the fish for ich , 2 of them had it (the 1 that died & the 1 that is darkish colored) & I treated for the int./ext. parasites only from reading some of the sites that these fish are wild cought and they most likely had int. para.. After doing water change the stressed GSP seems to be doing better, he is eating now but still hasnt got his color back. But why would the other 2 GSP be happy with bright colors & 1 not if the parameters are alittle off . The bottom of the aquarium is crushed shells . As for filteration on the tank , Im running a skimmer,an underground filter an a charcoal filter.The tank was set up 3 days before the fish were introd. Sould I be using a salt water test kit or a fresh water kit ? Im using a salt test kit now, is there much of a difference in them . And for the size of the tank for when they all get bigger, I will be fine upgrading to a larger size tank. I actually plan on setting up a 200 gal. & 2 - 100 gal. tanks. And I do know the responsability that comes with them . Ive actually been raising freshwater fish for about 20 years now . Saltwater is some what new to me. About 10 years ago I had a 30 gal. salt with some seahorses that lived almost 2 years for me . Back to the 1 stress GSP . You dont think it could be anything else that is causing his discolor do you. Like I said earlier the other 2 GSP are doing great same for the scats.

The tank was set up 3 days before the fish were introd.

I am asuming you are using filters from an established tank? Thank you for letting us know your experience level--otherwise we assume everyone is a newbie.

Sometimes a fish comes in that has just been thru too much stress. They are taken from BW, moved straight into FW, then back to BW in a short period. Some never recover. How quicky did you raise the SG to 1.008? Rasing .002/weekly (50%) water change is recommended. Are you using marine salt?

You might be best to QT this fish, so it has time to recover alone. They do best w/a steady pH of 8--accopmplished usually by using a crushed coral or aragonite substrate. I do not recommend UGFs but better--mechanical filters like a HOB Aquaclear. Puffers are messy & need something to get that mess out of the tank, not "sweep it under the rug".

JMO

Is the GSP dark and laying sitting on the gravel, or any other objects? Or is he dark and swimming around? Some people here, or atleast one has a dark GSP and it is not ill at all as far as I've read about it.

(To Pufferpunk) yes these are filters from a established tank. The HOB FILTER is a pretty good filter (cant remember name of it ).I set the tank up at a sg level of 1.004 (wich I keep most of my tanks at)and raised the level up slowly like you have reported on other discutions(almost 2 1/2 wks.). Yes Iam using instant ocean marine salt. (To Tihsho) He is dark and swimming around. You can still see his spoys and the top of his head is the greenish color ,and his chin is white. The rest of his body is of a darkish grey. He swims around fine ,but just doesnt want to eat alot. ( takes a few bites of food and goes back to swimming). Its almost like he`s exploring.

As long as he is swimming that is a good sign, its better to have one that is dark and active then dark and non active. Hopefully his coloration will return to the norm for a GSP! Good luck!

Thank you for your support,He seems to be doing alot better now. Still no color but is eating and keeping his teratorry.Thanks again. From one fish lover to another.