The Puffer Forum

GSP passed away today. This is the second fish that has died this way. The first being a Fig. 8.

I noticed him near our filter kind of floating with his head up. He didn't have much control over his body. I thought he was dead so when I got the net and put it next to him he got rather cranky and tried to swim away. Didn't have much luck though. He was having trouble swiming. I thought maybe he had some air so I tried to burp him to no avail. He was tipping from one side to another, trying to get away from the net, but wasn't able to control his movements.

I am having a heck of a time with Nitrites. Please don't tell me that I should change the water more often because if I do I'll never leave the tank. Yesterday I changed the water and used my sludge extractor, as well as gave them a new filter. I didn't have any biospir (sp?) on hand (just got my shipment in today from DrsF&S).

Like I said this is the second puffer fish that this has happened to and I really want to know why? .

I moved this to the hospital forum. Please answer ALL the questions in the 1st post, so we can analize your problem.

Pufferpunk wrote:I moved this to the hospital forum. Please answer ALL the questions in the 1st post, so we can analize your problem.

Oops sorry, I put it where I did because he's not in the hospital....

What questions are you referring to?

these ones http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/vie ... hp?f=3&t=5

I would recommend using a regular siphon to clean the gravel. The sludge extractor doesn't really do a very good job and doesn't really remove the toxins well. With a siphon, it cleans the gravel and removes the water at the same time. And they're very inexpensive.

If you're having a problem with nitrites then you tank is not cycled yet. Puffers are extremely sensitive to toxins in the water.

I would not recommend changing filter pads while a tank is cycling, you're just throwing away any good bacteria that has started to grow on it.

Check your PH. Early on in my pufferkeeping, I lost one right after a water change because the PH shifted too much. He also was "spinning" with no control over his body.