The Puffer Forum

Hey all, Happy Fourth -- I've come in need of someone who may have seen this behavior before... I've owned a few other Freshwater Puffers before (Figure 8, and Green Spotted) for a good while and learned much about their needs and how to keep them happy. I had recently lost a large amount of Cichlids while moving and setting up a larger tank (50Gal -> 75Gal). After my loss I fell in love with this baby Fahaka (which I know grow large and will need his/her own tank down the road) and I have been raising it for the past 3 months.

It has recently shown no interest in food and has started swimming and behaving abnormally (will post short videos of its behavior) and I am growing concerned. Before it was attacking frozen krill, "feeder/infest" snails, and bloodworms. But now it has no interest in any of that not even with soaking the food in Garlic extract. It has not cared about eating in the past two days, it took a nib at the frozen krill (but seemed to not be strong enough to take out a full bite?)

It is currently housed with 9 various sized African Cichlids (<= 3 inches) and an African Catfish which was the sole survivor of the original loss. I just did a ~25% water change on Saturday, these are my parameters as of today:

pH: 8.0
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 40-80

The Nitrate seems a bit high, but it always seems to hover around there and he was doing fine before. As a last resort I took the puffer out temporarily and put him into a side container with food and he was in there the whole time laying vertically with no interest in eating. I turned off my powerhead in my tank for now as well because he seemed to not have enough energy to not get swept into the current constantly, and it was making me sad to see him just drifting and getting knocked around... I'm not sure what else to do here, I'm worried its something with his teeth (as his mouth is always open) but because of his small size it is hard to say, and he had eaten some snails about two weeks ago.

Videos are stored on my DropBox:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/o9znifmz6bhv ... SpYma?dl=0

Or via Photobucket:
http://s1300.photobucket.com/user/ManBe ... a%20Puffer

Can't view the Dropbox, without logging in. Try uploading your vid here: www.photobucket.com. Then you can like them here.

What is the pH & nitrate of your tap water?

Hello, sorry for the delay but when I edited my original post to add photo bucket links it caused my post to be "pending review" for another good while...

So I just tested the tap that I use as a source for my water changes and the parameters are as follows:

pH 8.0
Ammonia: 0.25 (compared with API chart, slightly tinted yellow)
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0

Hes still alive, but still lethargic. I'm worried his energy levels are just dropping every hour that goes by without food. I was browsing through the forums more and am worried he might have a parasite that only has now taken effect. The only quarantine tank I have setup is a small 10 gal that I've so far been using to let snails populate for future consumption by him

Is his poop white and thin? Was he very thin between feedings, when he was feeding? If so, he may have internal parasites.

Your nitrates are pretty high. How often do you do water changes? Puffers are sensitive to high nitrates. You should aim to keep them below 20ppm.