The Puffer Forum

My GSP has developed two lumps in his belly. He cant move his back tail so he cant really swim. His belly looks swollen. Started a week after I gave him some new foods (shrimp and crab from the grocery store) Any thing I can do?

Could be constipated. Try 1tbsp epsom salt/5gal. Is it in brackish water? How are the water parameters?

epsom salt bath in a seperate container or in the main tank?

Main tank. Please answer my other Qs too.

brackish, 40 gallon. There is another gsp in there with him. He is pretty much upside down, has been for 3 days now but still swimming around and staying semi-active.

Upside-down? Sounds like it swallowed air. There's an article in our Library on how to burp them.

tried the epsom salts and also the burping. Still floating upside down, still doesn't seem to have control over his back tail either.

I had to trim the other gsp's teeth last week. Then introduced the food and that's when the problems started. He's always been a fat puffer to begin with, could he have over ate or be having problems with his bowels? Should also note that he has never puffed to my knowledge. He's about 5 or 6 years old as is the other gsp in the tank. They've never fought with each other and refuse to eat ghost shrimps but will pick at snails when I can get them.

OK, time t post water perameters. Actually, go to the top sticky in this forum & answer those questions.

Here's the low-down. 2 gsp's "tank" and "toof." Tank has always been the bigger gsp, he eats more than toof will. They're about 5-6 years old now.

1) Your water parameters - The salinity is 1.009 or 12ppt. I'll have to pick up another testing kit tomorrow as we haven't had one for probably 2 years now, haven't had any tank issues in a long time.

2) Feeding and water change schedule. Feeding is done nightly. Water change: we have a lot of evap. so at least 2-5 gallons are put in a week. Full cleaning is done once a month or every other month.

3) Changes already stated, clipped Toof's teeth, introduced king crab leg, and shrimp from the grocery store. "Tank" started floating upside down after about a week of this new food. He's happy, not stressed unless you try to handle him (tried the burping and he got pissed).

4) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it?
the tank has been set up 4-5 years. We have 2 filters in the tank a topfin 60 and a fluval 204.

By changes we mean when you remove old water from the tank and replace, which is separate from evaporation loss and replacement, since water lost to evaporation doesn't take nitrates, phosphates, or salt mix with it. I'm guessing if you only do monthly water changes, a nitrate buildup might be the problem, so make sure you include that in the test kits you get, even though it's not a "fish die right now" thing like ammonia or nitrites.