The Puffer Forum

Hi all.

Just come back from working away and I've noticed my puffers top lip seems to have disappeared and its mouth is quite swollen. My wife has been feeding it but doesn't pay much attention so could have happened anytime in last 10 days.

120 litre tank
1 schoutedeni
10 green rasboras
2 ottos
6 hillstream loaches
Large snails

Temp 26 c
Ph 6.8
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
Gh 2
Kh 0

I use seachem prime as conditioner and do 70% wc once a week unless I'm away then I normally do one they day I go and day I come back so sometimes only 2 or 3 changes a month.

Recently had what looked like whitespot but only affected the puffer, I treated with nt labs treatment and it cleared up.

I feed bloodworm daily and pest and ramshorns snails occasionally normally when I'm doing a wc from another tank.

Ill try upload an image but file size is to big.

Thanks
Paul

Image of the fish

Wow, that's crazy! It's difficult to see how swollen/red it is. It doesn't appear to be bloody/raw. It looks to be healing. My best guess is from a snail. Are the ramshorns tiny? Adults have been known to break a puffer's teeth. Do you have any sharp rocks or plastic plants in there?

And yes I've got a variety of real plants in there and dragon stone

Is he eating normally?
Adding Epsom salt at 1 tbsp/10g, may reduce the swelling.
With a kH of zero, you have no buffer to maintain a stable pH. Chances are pretty good that you get massive pH swings, which are detrimental to your fish.
Feeding him mostly bloodworms is also a very poor diet, which will further decline his health.
library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/
https://www.pufferfishenthusiastsworldw ... choutedeni