The Puffer Forum

SOMEONE PLEASE HELP----
I have a 20 gallon tank with two puffers, one very small and one 5 times bigger.

My big leopard puffer has begun swimming sideways and vertically and he constantly spins with his mouth at the top of the tank. There is no movement from his mouth and he has not eaten. Tonight I found him at the very bottom corner of the tank on his side, fins still moving and eyes looking around.

I do not know what to do!!!

Please help I think he is dying.

At a guess I would say the tank is too small. Test your water and do a 50% water change right away and then provide us with some more info so we can help. Puffer species, how long have you had them, how long has tank been running, what do the feed on, are teeth big? The more info the more we can help

The tank is a 20 gallon and I had the water tested and was told that it was good (although it is really cloudy)

I have another puffer and he is fine (very tiny) they are both supposidly leopard puffers but the one that is sick is four times the size of the little guy (and is younger than the little guy)

I do not know how to tell if the teeth are large. They are both on a diet of spirulina enriched brine shrimp.

what do you think?

do they look like this one http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/ug. ... roviridis/

If you are new to fishkeeping I would suggest you consider the long term. If they are a GSP then they need to be moved to brackish water and evetually to near marine water condiotions. If you knew this and are able and wllling to do it then I suggest you get another larger tank and maybe take one of the puffers back as with age they become very territrial. Of course without a definate ID its hard to say but a bigger tank will help. The diet you are feeding needs to include mussels and prawn with shell on, I suggest reading the feeding article to help you learn what to give them, if the water is cloudy I would guess that the tank is new and you have a bacterial bloom. Am I right?

I'd be VERY carefull that they are both the same type... my petco sometimes calls dwarf puffers, figure 8's and GSP's "leopard puffers."

Nick wrote:I'd be VERY carefull that they are both the same type... my petco sometimes calls dwarf puffers, figure 8's and GSP's "leopard puffers."

As a side note, my Petco people are surprisingly knowledgeable.. they actually knew that their F8s should be kept in BW (though they keep them in FW).

It is a fairly new tank and the bacteria bloom is supposed to last how long? What do i buy to get the tank clear?

My puffer is now on the bottom of the tank...he is still alive and his eyes are alert , fins moving.

What should i do???

Do not use anything to clear the tank. How long has the tank been set up? What are the CURRENT water parameters ("good" is useless to us, we need exact numbers)? How did you cycle it? And look in the PufferPedia and see just what kind of fish you have.

Just so no one thinks he's left and/or is avoiding answering, he's PM'd me. The tank is uncycled, which I'm trying to help him with and he's getting test kits.

Well, he seems to be getting worse. At this point he is laying on the bottom of the tank and seems to be still alert and his fins are still moving.

He cannot right himself and he is not eating.

I thought that it might be the water but my little guy is still flying around the tank (although he has been hovering over my big guy almost like he is trying to help).

This is awful. Does anyone have any other thoughts on what might be the problem? I hate to use the word euthanize but I am not sure what to do .

Trying to cycle your tank with the puffers in it is a sure deathe sentence for the puffers. Buy Bio-Spira ASAP & add it to the filter.

Yeah I second that, get some bio spira and a bigger tank will be needed. Have you been able to ID the puffers yet?

GSP. I don't think he has much other than chain petstores so probably doesn't have Biospira. I suggested it though.

I was able to look up biospira retailers online and find the closest to farthest with phone numbers and addresses.