Puffer gasping

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Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.

We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.

While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.

Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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AmyBell700
Puffer Fry
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2022 10:47 pm
Location (country): USA

Puffer gasping

Post by AmyBell700 »

Hi, all this afternoon, I noticed my GSP, Pineapple Bun, hovering near the top of his tank and less active. I've tried troubleshooting and he's now just resting on the substrate, with a dark stomach and increased work of breathing. I offered him his absolute favorite food (ramshorn snails, which he will normally take from my hand) and he ignored them completely.

1) Parameters: API saltwater test kit today & refractometer
pH: 8.2, Ammonia: 0, Nitrite: 0, Nitrates: 20 ppm, Salinity: 1.020, Temp: 75.5F

2) Tank Size: IM Nuvo 50gal Lagoon, +Tunze skimmer and chaeto reactor (although honestly the chaeto has not done very well), GSP is only inhabitant

3) Diet: Frozen/Defrosted clam, shrimp, mussels, krill (1 large piece every other day or small piece daily), and occasional live ramshorn snails from my freshwater tanks, Water change: 10-20% weekly, Products: Instant ocean marine salt (to mix water change water), microbacter7 - 2 drops/day and extra 2 drops w/ each water change

4) Changes in last week - none that I know of. I noticed the flow on the return pump seemed weak, so I added the small pump I use to mix up the saltwater near the surface to increase surface agitation/aeration. I also switched off the chaeto light and turned down the tank light thinking maybe the algae in the tank (there's a fair amount of green algae on the rocks) might be using up too much oxygen. I also did a 20% water change and am mixing up more saltwater now.

5) Aquarium has been set up for 2 years, seeded with filter media from another tank.

Thank you for any help you can offer!
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Pufferpunk
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Re: Puffer gasping

Post by Pufferpunk »

Is this being run as a marine system (live rock/sand/protein skimmer) or high-end BW?
Krill is not a good staple food at all & can eventually cause lockjaw in puffers.
Nitrate is a bit high--should be <20.
Temp needs to be 78-80.
A cycled/established tank does not need added nitrifying bacteria.
I'm not sure why you'd turn off the chaeto light since it is the chaeto that should take up the extra non-dissolved metabolites that will feed the algae on your rocks.
library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
AmyBell700
Puffer Fry
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2022 10:47 pm
Location (country): USA

Re: Puffer gasping

Post by AmyBell700 »

Yes, being run as marine - live rock, sand and tunze skimmer. The krill is included in rotation, but I can cut that out.

Will do a couple more water changes to bring the nitrates down further and raise the temp.

I was dosing the microbacter 7 to help reduce some cyano I was seeing on the glass (per some suggestions from another forum), but I don’t know that it made much difference.

The chaeto light I just briefly turned on, worried that the oxygen level in the water had somehow dropped, but it’s back on now.

I also changed the sock of charcoal I have in the refugium. He seemed to perk up a bit after that, but maybe it was just luck. He did eat 5 small/medium snails the following day, and then about half of a frozen Manila clam the next day.

He’s more active, though not 100% back to normal. Stomach is intermittently white and sometimes with some gray/brown.

Any other suggestions besides raising the temp and bringing down the nitrates? I’m also raising the salinity slowly to get closer to full marine. Thank you!
AmyBell700
Puffer Fry
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2022 10:47 pm
Location (country): USA

Re: Puffer gasping

Post by AmyBell700 »

Sorry, chaeto light I just briefly turned *OFF. It’s now back on.
User avatar
Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32764
Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles
Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
Location: Chicago
Contact:

Re: Puffer gasping

Post by Pufferpunk »

Sounds like he's already getting better!
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
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