The Puffer Forum

hey im hoping someone can help we with my puffer, on easter my friend bought a green spotted puffer from a shop by my house. she put him in her tank and he started spazzing and floating upside down. she tryed to return him to get him some help but they wouldnt take him back or answer any of her questions. we took him to several shops and we now know that he has a bladder infection. they had a cup of salt in his tank and we didnt know. he hasnt eaten since we got him and he cant control his swimming very well. i have 3 other puffers who are doing good, so i offerd to take him from her tank that had 2 puffers and put him in a tank by himself so hopefully he could eat, i put 4 small snails and 4 ghost shrimp in there with him but he hasnt touched any of them. his eyes are clear and his color is alittle dark but his crest is very bright. he is very observent and comes to the front of the tank when i check on him im all out of test strips but im going to buy some tomorrow so i can test his water. if theres anything i can do, or any kind of food i can give him please let me know. [/img]

Sorry if I seem curt, I'm going to try and give you a list of things to do to help the puffer. First, he's a brackish puffer, so he will need marine mix for his water. If he's in FW now, only bump him up by .002 per week, more than that will kill the tank bacteria. Speaking of which, is the tank he is in now cycled? If not, either get some Biospira, or do 50% daily water changes until nitrite and ammonia are at zero and you have some detectable nitrate. Don't get anything other than Biospira they might try to sell you at the store to help cycle the tank, no matter what it says or they say, it will do no good and might do harm. Don't buy any test strips, get liquid reagent test kits. Strips go bad quickly and are often wildly innaccurate anyway. Parasites are common in these puffers and will cause them to stop eating, but so will many many other stresssor, like an uncycled tank, or a sudden drop in salinity. What kind are your other puffers? Green spotted puffers get very large, sometimes to 6", and need about 30 gallons each.

i put marine salt in his tank and i have been changing out the water daily, the tank he is in now is my hospital tank, the other green spotted puffers will be moved to a 55 gl tank i bought last weekend. theres alot of false information being told to people about these little guys. when i bought my first 3 they told me i could keep all 3 of them in a 5.5 tank and that they would be fine as long as there was always fresh food in the tank for them. ive learned alot form ur site! thanks for ur advice! im going to the store in the morning to pick up some biospira and a test kit. is there any medicine you would recommend?

Read in this forum about treating parasites. There are 2 stickies.