Sick Pea Puffer
Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2026 7:59 am
Hi guys, I’m new here and I couldn’t find any helpful information elsewhere so… Here I am.
I have a pea puffer who I think is a baby but the pet store didn’t really know. I’ve had her about a month. I call her Miss Pea. Usually she has a good appetite, she really loves to eat baby bladder snails. I dewormed her with both expel p and paracleanse (one week apart). Starting yesterday she’s seemed really lethargic and not interested in food. I did a partial water change (about 50% ish) and I added in some more plants thinking maybe she was stressed and it wasn’t densely planted enough. Well, this morning, she’s moving even slower and while I was watching her she did a barrel roll- like she spun a full 360 and then continued. I’m not sure what could be causing this behavior.
Your water parameters -
pH - 7.9
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrates - on the API test kit, somewhere between 0ppm and 5.0ppm
2) 5gallon tank with just Miss Pea and two amano shrimp (the shrimp are fine and have been grazing away), plus the occasional wayward bladder snail
3) I feed her twice a day because she’s still very skinny. I either scoop in baby bladder snails and she hunts and kills them or I crush up a bigger ramshorn snail and she eats that. I do two 20% changes twice a week (I know you’re supposed to do a 50% once a week but I am a bit scared of stressing the amanos too much). I use either stress coat, prime, or betta water conditioner when I do water changes depending on which day it is (I only use prime if my ammonia levels were a bit high). I used stress coat yesterday.
4) Yesterday I added a small piece of driftwood and a few new plants hoping it would help her.
5) The tank has been set up since last September. I did fish less cycling with ghost feeding for the first two weeks, then I put cycled filter media in and then did fish in cycling with my older betta fish (he has since passed).
If anyone has any insight please! Help! I love my little pea.
I have a pea puffer who I think is a baby but the pet store didn’t really know. I’ve had her about a month. I call her Miss Pea. Usually she has a good appetite, she really loves to eat baby bladder snails. I dewormed her with both expel p and paracleanse (one week apart). Starting yesterday she’s seemed really lethargic and not interested in food. I did a partial water change (about 50% ish) and I added in some more plants thinking maybe she was stressed and it wasn’t densely planted enough. Well, this morning, she’s moving even slower and while I was watching her she did a barrel roll- like she spun a full 360 and then continued. I’m not sure what could be causing this behavior.
Your water parameters -
pH - 7.9
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrates - on the API test kit, somewhere between 0ppm and 5.0ppm
2) 5gallon tank with just Miss Pea and two amano shrimp (the shrimp are fine and have been grazing away), plus the occasional wayward bladder snail
3) I feed her twice a day because she’s still very skinny. I either scoop in baby bladder snails and she hunts and kills them or I crush up a bigger ramshorn snail and she eats that. I do two 20% changes twice a week (I know you’re supposed to do a 50% once a week but I am a bit scared of stressing the amanos too much). I use either stress coat, prime, or betta water conditioner when I do water changes depending on which day it is (I only use prime if my ammonia levels were a bit high). I used stress coat yesterday.
4) Yesterday I added a small piece of driftwood and a few new plants hoping it would help her.
5) The tank has been set up since last September. I did fish less cycling with ghost feeding for the first two weeks, then I put cycled filter media in and then did fish in cycling with my older betta fish (he has since passed).
If anyone has any insight please! Help! I love my little pea.