The Puffer Forum

Hello all, I am having a bit of a problem with my Porcupine puffer Timmy over the last two days. Basically the only time he is active is feeding time. The rest of the time he spends laying inside rock formations. He also looks like he is panting while laying there. When he comes out for food he was eating normally, until this evening when he ate very lightly and this evening his swimming became a bit "twitchy". When he first came out of the rock he was swimming very erratically and twitchy, then was swimming fine as he went after his frozen brine shrimp. His color is a bit light when laying around but it comes back after he is swimming for a minute or two. He is using both fins, looks like both gills, and I can't see any spots or discoloration on him. His belly is nice and white too.

I have had the tank for about 6 months, cycled with live sand, a damsel, and some time. Timmy was added about two months ago and quickly became my favorite, even after he ate the two firefish and a shrimp. His current tank mates are two small damsels, a small percula clown, and a 3-4" lunar wrasse.

I know Timmy is rather small now, about 3 1/2", and hopefully in a few months I can work up the funding for a much larger tank, around 150 gal, as well as set up a wet/dry sump.

Tank info-

55 gal
Fluval 304 with foam/charcoal/bio media
Good protein skimmer (can't remember the brand about $130)
about 30 lbs live sand
20 lbs live rock
and of course, the bubble bar

Last tank levels, (about 24 hours old, were same about 24 hours prior)
Salinity 1.022
PH 8.2/8.3
Ammonia 0/0.25
Nitrite 0/0.25
Nitrate Aprox 20ppm

I added the clown about four days ago, and did a cleaning/water change/rearrange the rocks three days ago. Made the mix myself, added dechlorinator, salt, and adjusted ph to 8.2. The clown and Timmy seem to ignore each other, even while Timmy was still active.

I am going to try to make it home in time to go to the lfs tomorrow to set up a small tank to quarantine him and make sure nothing in the tank is bothering him.

I have only had him for two months now but have gotten rather attached to the little fella. He is learning the the blue cup means it is food time. The only thing he seems to eat is frozen brine shrimp, I tried myosis shrimp, frozen krill, and frozen meaty cube (not quite sure what is in it), even a whole shrimp.

I tried reading past posts but couldn't seem to find anything like the problem I am having. I appreciate any help in getting Timmy better.

Jim

Welcome to TPF!

It's possible that some disease was introduced with the new clown. Then again, it is not unusual for puffers to become lighter/darker and to retreat into safe areas when they feel stressed. I'd guess that adding the clown and rearranging the tank has stressed the little guy a bit and that he will eventually return to normal as long as he is not being picked on.

Rather than QT the porc, I'd try moving the clown to the QT tank for a few days (good practice with all new fish!) to see if the porc begins to act normal. If he does and adding the clown back to the tank causes him to retreat again, you'll know what the problem is.

YBeNormal, Thank you for the quick reply. After I did my research the other night, of course after adding the clown, I realized that it was probably a bad idea to just throw the clown into the mix. But it is now a mute point as this morning the clown has died. I am going to recheck my water today, but the other three fish seem to be perfectly happy, eating and swimming normally. As of this morning Timmy is still laying around a lot and panting.

I'd suggest more water changes with properly dissolved salt. How long do you let the salt water mix before adding to the tank?

If he's having some kind of breathing issue he'll be inactive. Do a bunch of water changes and maybe add some fresh carbon to the filtration? What is your water flow like?


Maybe slowly drop your salinity just a little and add more aeration or flow to the tank to get the water more oxygenated. Your dissolved oxygen might be fine but if he's having trouble breathing more dissolved oxygen is better.

Good luck with the little fella. Hope he feels better soon.

Regarding the food thing, try some clams, scallops, or mussels from the grocery counter. My porc goes insane for them.

I will try changing out the carbon in the filter. If I recall correctly the filter moves 300gph, and I am not sure how much my protein skimmer moves, but they are on opposite ends of the tank to maximize water movement. There is also a 12" bubble bar across the back of the tank. The water mix was left to sit for 24 hours after I mixed it, with some stirrings in between. I set up a qt tank with some live sand and boxed natural sea water, to help eliminate any problems with the water. I am waiting for the sand to settle and letting the filter run for a few hours before I move him into the temp tank.

I am feeding him his breakfast now and he is swimming around very happily and normally, but in a few minutes he will more than likely be laying under some rocks panting away.

I also took my water over to the lfs and they confirmed that the water is good.

Does anybody have any tips for moving him between tanks? I don't want to net him and have him puff while between tanks in the open air.

Thank you all for your help.

Jim

use a tupperware container and herd him into that in that first tank, then submerge that in the other and hell swim free.

That is exactly what I did and it went fairly well, I think he was trying to spit water as I was moving him between tanks. He is now in a 6 gal tank, and appears to be doing a little better. He ate his breakfast as normal and is currently swimming around, but he seems to be swimming around more and laying around just a little bit less. I guess time will tell.

Is your Porch swim actively during the night.. mine usually sleepy during the day..then when the light is off he is hovering all over the tank cause I peek on him using a flash light during my bed time.

During the day..he awake early in the morning waiting for me to feed him, after that he will go into his old lying there an try to sleep the whole half day... his eyes ball move around when he see some activity in the room ..