The Puffer Forum

please can anyone suggest any reasons for a bloated GSP puffer?

i moved him to a hospital tank 2 weeks ago, after i did a minor food break for 3 days and noticed his tummy did not go down (like my other 2 puffers as i have 3 in total). my main tank is 90 litres, and the hospitol tank is 35 litres.

He is eating fine and his personality seems chirpy like usual. He is not showing any signs to make me suspect he has trapped air.

i have treated for internal parasites as a precaution, as i read these can be quick killer if it was them (used interpret no 9 anti-internal bacteria). that was over 10 days ago and his tummy has not gone down

Current hospitol tank water parameters,
ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 20, pH 7.2, salinity 1.01, temp 27 oC.

i feed frozen blocks of: bloodworm, shrimp, krill, beef heart, red plakton, cockles, mussels which are throughly defrosted in a small sample of tank water.

for their teeth i give them frozen cockles in their shell (again defrosted in small sample of tank water), and snails which i breed for them, although they only get this once or twice a week as i cant keep the stock up more.

A couple of weeks ago i also gave the some live food from my lfs (i forget the foods proper name but its looked to me to be the same as what i had when i was little called sea monkeys)

i am having trouble attaching pics so heres a link to a public photo share site i have uplaoded them on

http://www.flickr.com/photos/71454572@N00/

any suggestions appreciated

thanks
katy

p.s this was posted on the temp forum, but i have added foods & pics to try help figure out whats wrong with smokey

Wow, he does look rather bloated.

I think there is a treatment with epsom salts for constipation, which may be the problem, but I don't know the exact amounts, etc. Someone should come by with that info for you. Good luck with him!

1tbsp/5gal.

Try getting some veg into him as well - gut-loaded foods. I call it health by stealth, cos you gotta keep it quiet from puffers that you're giving them veg!
He doesn't look TOO bad, but if it's a recent thing and you're concerned.....
Pami.

He looks alot like my puffer which I just overfed

http://www.picjar.com/pub/ingo1978/GSP/

As long as they go back to a standard size, expanding like that is the norm.
Well, the norm of overfeeding, which should be avoided. But its when they do not return to a slimmer profile that you have to worry.

It sounds like you used live brine shrimp Katy, which -might- be the cause of the constipation.

I must admit, since I've been feeding Robert his veg/gel/algae stuff (Mags won't touch it), he's got less of a pot belly look. So try and get some veg into your GSP at least once a week...I'm sure he'll be grateful.
Pami.

thanks everyone, i really appreciate your help.

i dont think i am overfeeding, he is only getting about 10 little bloodworms a day, he looks different from normal, his stomach is bloated towards his tail end, not his tummy like when i am overly generous (i know its naughty but sometimes they are so cute, but i am getting better i promise )

maybe i am just being over paranoid.

i have got some andrews salt as i cant find epsom salts in any of my local chemists. it has citric acid & bicarb as well as mag sulphate. i think the bicarb will be fine as it will fizz off...but does anyone know if the citric will be ok (19.5% w/w). the mag sulphate is only 17.4% w/w...is epsom 100% - if so is it true to say i have to multiply up the dose accordingly?

cheers

Katy

Be very cautius about adding bicarbonate to the tank - you can get a pH/TDS spike as bicarb is highly soluble. I would not use that formulation.

Agreed, keep looking for epsom salt.

I'm hitchhiking this thread...my ceylon puffer's stomach didn't go down for 4 days already.

He's still happily swimming around and eating happily. The stomach ain't as bloated as katy's puffer but it just does not go flat like his other two tankmates (ceylons too).

I am wondering if I should treat him. And if I should, do I place him in water with dissolved epsom salt directly or do I dissolve the epsom salt in his tank water which is brackish?

Cindy, what do you feed it? And could you please list your water parameters too?

Epsom salt can be added to the main tank BUT it should be pre-dissolved in a separate container. Never add undissolved salt directly to the tank.

Ghost shrimps.

NH3/NH4: 0
NO2: 0
NO3:50

I stopped feeding for two days to see if the stomach would go down. Yes for the other two puffers but not for him.

NO3 should be <20. Start doing 50% water changes daily (while cleaning the gravel), until it is. Are you rinsing your filter material?

Do you only feed him ghost shrimps? That could be the prob, as they need more variety and veg.
Pami.