# Puffer acting strangely. Is he sick? Slugged out?



## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

I have a 48g brackish tank (1.01sg/~17ppt), with F8 and GSP. The F8s are happy and great, and one of the GSPs is peppy, but the other gets very slugged out. He's the smallest. I think it's because he just ate, but he sits on the bottom like this:

http://tinyurl.com/6jcq65

Last time this happened I thought, I hope this is the only time. Now it's happened twice. Am I overfeeding? Is it something else? Is this fishy stressed?

And heres one of my happy F8s:

http://tinyurl.com/5vh4nq

I have tested for nitrite, nitrate, and ammonia, all are zeros right now, and checked PH (7.6), and so I'm pretty sure water quality is good. The tank has been stable for several weeks at the current salinity, and ran for months as a freshwater tank before I started adding marine salt a bit at a time.

Warren


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## Calmer (Mar 9, 2008)

You may want to try a search at http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/
as they seem to be well informed about puffers. Maybe slow up on the feeding and see if there is improvement as they can be little piggies. It could be fear of the other tank mates that is stressing him out. Hopefully that is all it is.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Oohhh he's so dark  I do hope he does better. I personally never had much luck with more than one GSP but that is just me.

Gosh i love puffers.


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## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

His color is lighter today. He's just the cyootest lil fishie. I hope he is allright.

W


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## koopagurl (Jun 23, 2008)

I don't know if it matters...but the second puffer looks like a ceylon rather than an F8 because F8's have an eyespot near their tail and don't have spots near the belly. They both have similar patterns on the back.

Did you raise the salinity by 0.002 at a time? I heard that it is really important to do that for the bacteria to get used to the salinity, or there will be a mini cycle.


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## shooterKD (Mar 27, 2008)

Everyone here has been giving great information... Not much I can add, but after more than 10 years of keeping various puffers at various times, I'd suggest cutting down on the amount you're feeding, or alternatively, use tweezers or something to place the food for only him to eat. It appears he's eating too much, or he's not eating enough due to bullying...

I'll also offer that I've personally never attempted keeping that many puffers together and I think most will tell you that that's too many in a 48 gallon tank. Aggression, if not a problem yet, will become one as they all get bigger...


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## pat3612 (Jan 29, 2008)

Maybe just the pic but looks to me like a pea puffer. It could be the change from fresh to salt water also you could check to make sure there is nothing caught in its mouth I noticed it was on gravel .


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## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

If aggression becomes a problem I'll be trading some puffers on here. 

I almost had one less puffer to worry about. I came home today and the little guy who's been acting weird had his tail turned in sideways like he was dead, and his face down in the gravel, and he wasn't moving. I put my hand in the tank and OH DEAR... It was obviously over 94F just from the feel of it. The one tank that I don't have a thermometer in, and the aquarium heater has RUN AWAY on me.

So I did a water change, and used drip (via airline) to lower the temperature slowly. I've got it under 82 in just under an hour and a half (the fastest I dared lower it). So I also decided to test, still 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrites, and Nitrates were a bit too high but nothing crazy.

Anyways, now all my fishies are active again and the tank looks happier. I wonder how badly stressed out from the heat-wave, the poor guys got.

Drat and Blast that confounded Heater. It's going back to the store. Anyone else had a TopFin run away on them?

W


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## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

Do they get gravel caught in their mouths? I guess I should have used sand eh?

W


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## shooterKD (Mar 27, 2008)

Other than my 66 gallon brackish setup, I've never used sand in my tanks with puffers and I've never had a problem with gravel getting into their mouths... Hopefully your only problem was the temp. in the tank, good luck and hope all stays well!


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

You can bring down the temp faster than that if you like. When it rains, I'm sure the temperature in a small river or creek can swing by 5 C in less than a few minutes.

I agree with shooterKD about the feeding. From what I know, puffers as adults need feedings only every few days, so you may be overfeeding.


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## pat3612 (Jan 29, 2008)

Glad everything is good I had that same thing happen to me with a heater sorry didnt pick up on it as your other fish were ok .


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