The Puffer Forum

So I have two 1 1/2 inch green spotted puffer fish. They are in a 10 gallon tank for now, with a dragon goby. Ive done research on both the dragon goby and the green sotted puffer, it appears like they live in similar environments. I know that they both require a larger tank, but at the moment I cannot afford that, but of course I will get one as they get past two inches. The dragon goby is a great clean up crew for the green spotted puffers, and they all get along great.

However, recently I have cleaned my tank by wiping down the sides of the glass with a regular towel, and doing about a 75% water change. Of course the fish were not in the tank during the cleaning, and I added all the necessary additives to the water (dechlorinator, pH regulator, and made the salinity 1.01 cause I am slowly making the tank brackish). Ive had these fish for a month and they have been doing great until this water change. Now they refuse to eat anything, are breathing super heavily, and are clearly stressed due to the c shape they are making, and the stress line. Also they swim near the surface of the tank for a little bit, then they well find a dark place in the aquarium (top or bottom) to sleep. The dragon goby is doing better than ever, swimming around enjoying the extra food, but the puffers appear to be dying. I didn't do anything different from when I first put them in the tank, except I added a bit of marine salt.

There is also a bit of a side note.. before I changed the water both puffers were rubbing up against objects very aggressively, is it a possibility that they have some type of disease and changing the water just made them too weak to fight it? If this sounds like some sort of parasite or disease let me know what it could be and possible treatments. Please someone answer ASAP because these little guys aren't looking too good!!

Please answer ALL the questions above, in red. If you do not have a test kit, go out & get one. API liquid test kit is what's recommended. You need ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & pH.
Stop using pH regulator. Use Prime to condition the water. What kind of salt are you using?

Where were your fish during the water change if they weren’t in the tank?

I will get the testing kit as soon as I can, I know I was supposed to answer those questions but I don’t have the kit and I was just hoping for some ideas for now until I get one. The pH regular was because my town’s water is super soft usually around 8-9 pH. Also, I used instant ocean from Petco. The salinity is 1.01 and the temperature is 78. Dragon gobys and puffer fish live in basically the same environment, so shouldn’t the dragon goby have the same symptoms as the puffers if it was the water? Oh and while I was cleaning their tank they were in a small clean bucket with their old water in it. When it came time to transfer them back into the newish water I let them acclimate to the temperature, I didn’t just dump them in.

This is not the proper way to do a water change. You stir up the substrate, remove 1/2 the water & replace it with the same temp/salinity water, weekly. Fish remain in the tank.
More important though is how EXACTLY did you cycle this tank before adding fish? They are showing classic signs of ammonia/nitrite toxicity. You need that test kit NOW.
Very soon--those puffers will start nipping on that poor goby & eventually it won't make it.

Okay, no need for the all capital letters crap. I bought these fish at Walmart, the fish being from Walmart I thought they wold be easy to keep. Turns out they aren't, but hey Im learning as I go, so you can refrain from the attitude thanks.. Im working on getting the kit but I don't have a vehicle at the moment so I had to order it, should be here tomorrow.

Anyways, I usually change out a little bit of the water weekly, about a gallon, yes I leave the fish in the tank. Since it has been about a month, I read that its best to do a full tank cleaning every month. However, I wasn't sure so I just cleaned out about 75% of the water, yes I did mix up the substrate before removing the water. I took the fish out because I didn't want to freak them out, and not a single website that I saw said what to do with the fish while cleaning the tank. Also, what difference would it make if I took them out or not? Eventually people completely clean the tank to where there is no water left, they would have to take the fish out and put them in different water.

As for cycling the tank, Im still trying to figure out what exactly all that entails because Ive researched multiple times, and gotten mixed results. I thought since I wasn't doing a full tank cleaning, and I wasn't replacing the filter, that they would still have what they needed from their former aquatic ecosystem to be just fine. So, I guess I did not properly cycle the tank. As for specifics, I mixed what water was left in there with the water I dechlorinized and added the pH adjuster to. Then I let the fish adjust to the temperature, and then put them into the aquarium.

Also, I researched the dragon goby as a tank mate for the puffer fish, and it just depends on the puffer. So far, he has been perfectly happy, if he does end up getting bit, I will definitely find a solution, either a new tank, or a new owner.

I managed to get some cleaning bacteria from a friend, will this help my situation if it is an ammonia/nitrite issue?

Lots of reading for you.
Just to tell you a little about me, this article has been published in many aquarium mags, in several different languages:library/puffers-in-focus/an-introductio ... d-puffers/
This one is also published in several mags: library/misc/theres-a-dragon-in-my-tank/
library/tnk-mgr/newtanksyndroments/
library/water-filtration/fishless-cycling/
library/water-filtration/emergencycycle/

As far as your 2nd post, you never remove the fish & do a thorough tank cleaning. That's where all the helpful nitrifying bacteria is destroyed, which is needed to keep the environment healthy & non-toxic. So my guess is that the tank wasn't cycled in the 1st place & then you stalled any attempts of it cycling by cleaning too much. 50% weekly water changes are what are recommended for keeping fish healthy & long-lived.

Walmart routinely sells these difficult to keep fish, because they are great sellers due to how cute they are. 99% of them collected die due to poor housing.

You can order everything you need on Amazon. So get the Safestart, API test kits & Prime water conditioner. You can get it shipped overnight or if you have Prime, it should get there in 2 days. In the meantime, I suggest doing 50% WC daily. Don't bother about salting the water right now. The bacteria is too sensitive for that. When the Safestart arrives, do an 80% WD & add it directly to the filter.

After the tank has been stable for at least 2 weeks, you can start adding salt again:
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=19348

If you really want to understand the nitrification process in depth:
library/water-filtration/aquariummicrobespart1/