The Puffer Forum

Hi! We just got back from being out of town. When we left, our GSP seemed fine (always hungry bright colors), came back to find him on the bottom of his tank, on his side, panting.
Here are the basics:
45g tank, by himself
Immediately did water check, all seems normal for him, except the Nitrate and salinity a little low:
pH: 8.2
Ammonia: <0.25ppm
Nitrite:0ppm
Nitrate: 10ppm (I thought this was usually closer to 5 or less normally)
Salinity: 1.0215
(Edited to add, he is about 6 years old and has been in this tank for about 2 years)

So, we used the same critter sitter as usual. He was fed (a worm) every other day, still is nice and round, belly white, head bright...any ideas? Is the Nitrate the culprit?
Doing water change and adding a little saline NOW.

Thank you in advance!

historically, what have your ammonia readings been?
........any is very bad, none is best
your nitrates aren't out of line at 5 or 10
do you use liquid test kits (or dry strips), appropriate to the salinity?

Hi! Thank you for the response! I have an API liquid test kit. Ammonia, historically is 0 or very close to it. I have not had it register as high as 0.25, but sometimes the color is slightly off 0. I just don't have any other idea what might have caused this. I was SO sure that the ammonia was off due to him being such a cute begger and possible convincing the sitter to over feed...but now I am lost!
Thank you!
~Beth:)

If it is the ammonia, water change and check for any uneaten worm stuck in the tank

Hi All! Thank you for the help. It was not the ammonia, just a shade off 0, but I did a water change, gently...
Sitter said he ate well the first couple of days and then didn't, even live worms! Maybe an injury? Maybe caught something from the worms? Anyway, he didn't make it.

Sorry for your loss I hope this doesn't dissuade you from keeping another puff in the future.

sorry you lost him

Oh no, so sorry!

Thank you, all! We do miss his buzzing all around begging for food...
Any thoughts on what could have happened? I was so sure it was ammonia...
We raise the worms and haven't had any trouble... just wish I could tell where we went wrong.
Thanks again!

carolinasculpture wrote:Thank you, all! We do miss his buzzing all around begging for food...
Any thoughts on what could have happened? I was so sure it was ammonia...
We raise the worms and haven't had any trouble... just wish I could tell where we went wrong.
Thanks again!

Sorry for your loss.

It must have been the ammonia levels, a level that high will kill quite quickly, the only things that I can think of that might cause a raise like that is:

1. Disturbing the substrate after leaving it for a long time.
2. Overfeeding.
3. Live plants degrading.
4. Death of tank-mate or killing off an out-of-control snail population.
5. Not changing the water often enough.