The Puffer Forum

I have a single pea puffer in a 5 gal tank, no other tank mates (except for a shrimp). Diet is live blackworms supplemented with pond snails.

Yesterday my boyfriend thought it was possible a very small amount of non-toxic household glue might have melted, gotten into the tank via condensation (he was gluing something on the top, used the wrong glue) so we got worried and did a 20% water change followed by a 40% water change. We regularly do a 20% change 1x/week.

Nitrates 20 ppm
Nitrites 0
Hardness - hard
Alkalinity kh - 20 ppm
PH - neutral 7
No ammonia

Yesterday after all the commotion, she hid. I got concerned but thought maybe she was freaked out by all the activity. She was hiding into the morning, she came out not long ago, but she is acting strangely. She isn't eating (EXTREMELY unusual), she is swimming oddly, a bit floaty and out of it.

We had 2 pea puffers, 1 passed about a month ago and the symptoms started exactly like this (she passed within a day or so of showing symptoms so I'm freaking out). We've had her about 2 years. I'm wondering if they got some kind of internal parasite from worms at some point? If there is anything I can do to help her, I really want to do it, i just feel at a loss. When the other puffer got sick, I tried to research but couldn't quite narrow down what was going on or how to treat it.. Any help appreciated ty

Update - she seems to be doing much better! She is swimming much better (less floaty, more in control) and ate a few worms idk if it could've been stress/a bit of shock? Or maybe something did get into the water and the water changes helped? I am hopeful though. Ty again

That's wonderful! I was at a loss as to what to tell you about his behavior, so I didn't respond. I would try to get that nitrate <20. Also, DPs are much happier in groups of 6 or more.

Thanks, yeah she seems to be doing much better! I'm so happy, i was starting to get really worried. Last night she started eating again and swimming normally, seems like she's back to her energetic, inquisitive self lol. And I'd love to have a group of DPs if we could get a diff setup and larger tank, I'll keep that in mind!