My Ceylon Puffer's belly is very black???

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
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Read this before posting!!

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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Lmontiveros
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My Ceylon Puffer's belly is very black???

Post by Lmontiveros »

Please help, I just bought my ceylon puffer from a LFS and he was fine the first 2 days, now his belly is very dark and black, does that mean he is sick?
I just bought my tank 1 week ago, and cycled it with "Cycle", all the other fish are fine except for the puffer.
:)
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bosshogg
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Post by bosshogg »

Cycle is useless, do a 80 percent water change and get a product called biospira it's the only way to cycle your tank.

What size tank is it and have you read the library on your puffer?
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Pufferpunk
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Post by Pufferpunk »

What other fish? What sized tank? Please post ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & pH. Also, specific gravity. "Cycle" is bunk & does nothing to cycle a tank.
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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bosshogg
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Post by bosshogg »

Pufferpunk wrote:What other fish? What sized tank? Please post ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & pH. Also, specific gravity. "Cycle" is bunk & does nothing to cycle a tank.
Good call I missed the other fish.
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Pufferpunk
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Post by Pufferpunk »

We must have posted at the same time.
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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bosshogg
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Post by bosshogg »

Pufferpunk wrote:We must have posted at the same time.
Yeah, mine was still being spell checked I think
Lmontiveros
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Post by Lmontiveros »

I have a 29 gallon tank, with 2 cichlids and 1 plecostamus. I noticed today that it is only when i have the lights off his belly turns white, but when i turn it back on, after a few minutes it starts to turn black. i threw 5 ghost shrimp in there and they are still alive and well.
:)
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Pufferpunk
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T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles
Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
Location: Greenville, SC
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Post by Pufferpunk »

We can't help you without the water parameters. Your puffer belongs in high-end brackish water, not freshwater. Please read the GSP article in out Library. Care & feeding, is the same, although the Ceylon requires at least a 40g tank as an 8" adult.
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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manutius
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Post by manutius »

if its a reaction to the light and the water checks out I would look to subdue the lighting or provide more shelter from the light. Moonlight bulbs could be worth a look :D
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Pufferpunk
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T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles
Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
Location: Greenville, SC
Contact:

Post by Pufferpunk »

BTW,
[welcome]
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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spoot
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Post by spoot »

water parameters help in these kinds of situations. Is that a common pleco that you have? Do you know how big they get??
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Hilly
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Post by Hilly »

Lmontiveros wrote:I have a 29 gallon tank, with 2 cichlids and 1 plecostamus. I noticed today that it is only when i have the lights off his belly turns white, but when i turn it back on, after a few minutes it starts to turn black. i threw 5 ghost shrimp in there and they are still alive and well.
Lights off belly white, lights on belly black, just like my Sabahensis. Do you have a pic of your puffer?
Hilly
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manutius
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Post by manutius »

I thought that too Hilly
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