The Puffer Forum

Aquarium info:

180g, 2 dogface & 1 stars/stripes puffer
ph 8.0, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrates 20, Salinity 1.022, Temp 81
Water changes weekly, water is RO/DI water with Instant Ocean & marine buffer added
Feeding frozen krill, clams on half shell, chopped clams, chopped squid
Aquarium has been set up for 10 years, 1 dogface 10 years old, 1 dogface 7 years old, stars/stripes 4 years old


Our 7 year old dogface puffer has not eaten for the past week, he also looks quite bloated and is not swimming extremely well - likes to sit on the bottom of the tank. After we returned from a day away for Thanksgiving it appeared the stars/stripes puffer(the largest) had been aggressive to his tankmates as they all had bite marks. We attributed his behavior to this and re-arranged the tank. We have also been making more frequent water changes since then. Today his breathing is more labored and his color is getting dark. The other two puffers are feeding regularly and aren't in any distress. Constipation? Stress? Parasites?
Thanks for any ideas.

With how bloated it is I would definitely say constipation.I would wait for confirmation from another member on this but I would recommend Epsom salts. With it being that large of a tank I would recommend a quartentine and dosing the qt tank with Epsom. While in the qt it would hurt to treat for internal parasites as well.

Just pulled the reccomend dosage of another post by PP 1tbsp of Epsom salt per 10g. Wouldn't hurt to do a water change puffers are very sensitive to water quality try to get you nirates sub 10ppm

Yes looks like he is backed up, add Epsom salt as stated above

Welch4 wrote:Just pulled the reccomend dosage of another post by PP 1tbsp of Epsom salt per 10g. Wouldn't hurt to do a water change puffers are very sensitive to water quality try to get you nirates sub 10ppm

Yeah, that's for FW, for SW it's 1 tbsp/5g.

PP for the save as always