Green Spotted Puffer Constantly Stressed
Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2022 7:57 pm
Hi everyone! Just joined today.
I have a GSP we purchased in January (so around 5 months ago).
He is around 3-4inches
Ever since we got him, he has glass surfed. I know this is often written off as a normal trait, but he also tucks his tail, hides often, is cautious even to take food, and is lately looking dark/dull coloured. He will also sometimes frantically swim against the glass, flashing his teeth.
We added some coral rock (a few weeks ago) to try help with his stress which unfortunately created an ammonia spike. We removed it immediately to cure, but struggled to remove the ammonia.
He was in the tank with trace amounts of ammonia for around 2 weeks before we managed to get it back down to 0. (Note: he now has better filter systems. Explained later).
Slight side story but it has a point: we found a bobbit worm in his tank around this time. As I was already unhappy with the substrate and setup of his tank, we took this as an opportunity to buy him his full size tank and set him up with our new knowledge of what he needs. We moved him into this tank just under one week ago.
I'll list his current parameters below.
I am looking for advice on what might be causing him to live constantly stressed, and what we can do to help him. I know shifting tanks causes fish stressed but this is all old behaviour!
Current situation:
Constantly glass surfing in one BACK corner of the tank.
Constant hiding.
Tucked tail.
Black tip of tail (from what I can see this may be fin rot from his time in ammonia. Advice for treatment would be appreciated!)
Lack of appetite. He eats less than half of what he used to and shows little-no interest at the offering of food. I have to leave it for him to find.
1) Your water parameters
pH 8.4
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrates 10ppm
salinity 1.021
Temp 26 degrees celcius
2) Tank size 315L
1.5m long
45cm high
ALL inhabitants:
1x 3-4inch GSP
8x little silver mollies (added for stimulation for Stoffel).
Note: The mollies are all very healthy!
3) Feeding
Twice Daily
Snails, mussels, clams, shrimp, blood worms
When he had a good appetite we would feed until full
We are aware of needing to feed shelled food for his beak.
Water change schedule
25% every 3 days or so while there was ammonia present.
Now 25% every 2 weeks
List of all products
One canister filter Aquis 1200
One Internal Filter Hailea RP-600
One power head
One LED aquarium light (from amazon, I believe it was claimed as full spectrum. you can select colours but we have it on the daylight setting)
We use tap water and PRIME
Aquarium Systems Reef Crystals
One heater
One power head
Around 16kg of coral rock. 8kg of this is LIVE rock and the other half is cured, so is not live yet.
Substrate is a thin (under an inch) layer of Argonite and fine white aquarium sand
Blanket draped over the back of the tank to try block light/help with the glass surfing. No change.
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so.
The big changes mentioned above.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it?
This aquarium has been set up for around 2 weeks.
Cycled using:
Filter from his old tank
Substrate from his old tank
One 8kg Live rock from his old tank
Purchased cycled media ("for up to 600L") from local marine fish shop. Placed in the new canister filter.
Whew. Sorry for the info dump but I know the more the better.
Any advice at all is Welcome. I have done a lot of research and am more than eager to take on more. What does your GSP enjoy? Can you think of any illnesses, parasites which could be the cause? Thank you!!!
Pics attached of Stoffel and his tank.
The pics of him are not great but you can see his dark tail in the one from behind.
I have a GSP we purchased in January (so around 5 months ago).
He is around 3-4inches
Ever since we got him, he has glass surfed. I know this is often written off as a normal trait, but he also tucks his tail, hides often, is cautious even to take food, and is lately looking dark/dull coloured. He will also sometimes frantically swim against the glass, flashing his teeth.
We added some coral rock (a few weeks ago) to try help with his stress which unfortunately created an ammonia spike. We removed it immediately to cure, but struggled to remove the ammonia.
He was in the tank with trace amounts of ammonia for around 2 weeks before we managed to get it back down to 0. (Note: he now has better filter systems. Explained later).
Slight side story but it has a point: we found a bobbit worm in his tank around this time. As I was already unhappy with the substrate and setup of his tank, we took this as an opportunity to buy him his full size tank and set him up with our new knowledge of what he needs. We moved him into this tank just under one week ago.
I'll list his current parameters below.
I am looking for advice on what might be causing him to live constantly stressed, and what we can do to help him. I know shifting tanks causes fish stressed but this is all old behaviour!
Current situation:
Constantly glass surfing in one BACK corner of the tank.
Constant hiding.
Tucked tail.
Black tip of tail (from what I can see this may be fin rot from his time in ammonia. Advice for treatment would be appreciated!)
Lack of appetite. He eats less than half of what he used to and shows little-no interest at the offering of food. I have to leave it for him to find.
1) Your water parameters
pH 8.4
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrates 10ppm
salinity 1.021
Temp 26 degrees celcius
2) Tank size 315L
1.5m long
45cm high
ALL inhabitants:
1x 3-4inch GSP
8x little silver mollies (added for stimulation for Stoffel).
Note: The mollies are all very healthy!
3) Feeding
Twice Daily
Snails, mussels, clams, shrimp, blood worms
When he had a good appetite we would feed until full
We are aware of needing to feed shelled food for his beak.
Water change schedule
25% every 3 days or so while there was ammonia present.
Now 25% every 2 weeks
List of all products
One canister filter Aquis 1200
One Internal Filter Hailea RP-600
One power head
One LED aquarium light (from amazon, I believe it was claimed as full spectrum. you can select colours but we have it on the daylight setting)
We use tap water and PRIME
Aquarium Systems Reef Crystals
One heater
One power head
Around 16kg of coral rock. 8kg of this is LIVE rock and the other half is cured, so is not live yet.
Substrate is a thin (under an inch) layer of Argonite and fine white aquarium sand
Blanket draped over the back of the tank to try block light/help with the glass surfing. No change.
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so.
The big changes mentioned above.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it?
This aquarium has been set up for around 2 weeks.
Cycled using:
Filter from his old tank
Substrate from his old tank
One 8kg Live rock from his old tank
Purchased cycled media ("for up to 600L") from local marine fish shop. Placed in the new canister filter.
Whew. Sorry for the info dump but I know the more the better.
Any advice at all is Welcome. I have done a lot of research and am more than eager to take on more. What does your GSP enjoy? Can you think of any illnesses, parasites which could be the cause? Thank you!!!
Pics attached of Stoffel and his tank.
The pics of him are not great but you can see his dark tail in the one from behind.