Please Help! My Green Spotted Puffer is sick.

[Skoo]

I've had my green spotted puffer for about 5 months now. I have him in a 25 gallon brackish water tank, all by himself. I've never had any problems with him until recently. His belly is turning black around his mouth to his tail, his color overall is much duller than usual, and he is not very active at all. He has been laying upside down or on his side in the rocks and it looks like he's having a hard time breathing. When he does swim around, it's very sporadic and he runs into the glass and decor. The past couple days he hasn't been eating, and today I noticed his mouth is red and swollen. Water parameters seem to be normal, and I took a water sample to a local petstore to have it tested to be sure. Those results were normal as well. Any ideas?

 

[logansmomma1228]

Did you cycle your tank? What are your parameters exactly? Am, NI, NA ? What is your specific gravity? Green Spotted Puffers do not need a high salinity. They can be in a specific gravity of 1.005-08 v(whatever that means lol i found it here: Green Spotted Puffer Profile (TROPICAL FISH ARTICLES)

 

[Crepe]

What salt did you use for the tank and to what concentration. How have you been conducting water changes? Adding brackish water or Fresh water? Have you been topping off evaporation with freshwater?

What have you been feeding him.

 

[Skoo]

Ammonia and nitrite levels are 0, PH is 8. I'm not sure of specific gravity. I do 50% water changes weekly. I refill with fresh water and add salt. I top off evaporation with freshwater. I feed him freeze dried shrimp and bloodworms, and frozen bloodworms. I cycled the tank for about 2 weeks before adding him, and he is the only fish I have. There are also no live plants in the tank. There is a little bit of algae beginning to grow, and I am treating it with chemicals, but I had it before and used the same stuff and it never affected him. He's never had any of these symptoms before. The only thing that has been different since I got him is the temperature of the water has gone up to at least 84 (which is as high as my thermometer goes) due to it being at least 100 degrees everyday where we live. A fish 'expert' at a local petstore suggested he might be too hot, but I don't think that explains the problem with his mouth?

 

[bengoshi2000]

How big is he now?

 

[logansmomma1228]

Ammonia and nitrite levels are 0, PH is 8. I'm not sure of specific gravity. I do 50% water changes weekly. I refill with fresh water and add salt. I top off evaporation with freshwater.

Do you know what your nitrAtes are? they are much less toxic to fish, but if they get too high they could hurt him. What kind of test kit do you use? Strips are bad. Liquid test kits are much more accurate and last longer in the long run.

I feed him freeze dried shrimp and bloodworms, and frozen bloodworms. I cycled the tank for about 2 weeks before adding him, and he is the only fish I have. There are also no live plants in the tank. There is a little bit of algae beginning to grow, and I am treating it with chemicals, but I had it before and used the same stuff and it never affected him. He's never had any of these symptoms before.

Do you use prime or some kind of dechlorinator in the water? Your chemicals by any chance out of date? You don't really need a lot of chemicals for anything. All I use is prime, and if fish get sick Aquarium salt and heat do wonders in most cases. More chemicals can mess with the water. Also, how long have you had him for? could just be age.

Do you ever clean anything else when you do water changes? Like rinse the filter out or anything? Most of your beneficial bacteria live in the filter media and substrate. If you replace it a lot or rinse in tap, it can kill the bacteria and send you into a mini cycle. You can just rinse and scrub it in old tank water until it's falling apart.

The only thing that has been different since I got him is the temperature of the water has gone up to at least 84 (which is as high as my thermometer goes) due to it being at least 100 degrees everyday where we live. A fish 'expert' at a local petstore suggested he might be too hot, but I don't think that explains the problem with his mouth?

If he got hot too fast it could have stressed him out, leaving him prone to an infection of some sort. I am going to go look up some things and I will be back with a few links for you.

 

[logansmomma1228]

You know what? Do you ever feed him snails? they need snails to file their beaks down or else they will fuse shut. Could be cause for something

 

[Skoo]

Thanks for the effort guys, but I came home this evening and found him dead :'(

 

[logansmomma1228]

I am very sorry to hear that. Wish he would have got better. Is there anything else in your tank? You might want to treat for anything he may have had to prevent other fish from getting sick.

:'(

 

[Skoo]

No, he was my only fish. but I'm going to clean out the entire tank thoroughly and re-cycle the tank before I get more fish

 

[logansmomma1228]

What size tank do you have? Do you have any ideas for what you want to get? I have a dwarf puffer, thinking about getting another one or two for him.

 

[cmor1701d]

I do 50% water changes weekly. I refill with fresh water and add salt.

Is that accurate? You remove 12 gallons of water from the tank, add 12 gallons of freshwater and then add salt?
Please tell me you are mixing the sw outside of the tank and then adding it.
If you don't have a refractometer to know the SG of the tank how do you know when to stop adding salt?
How do you know you haven't reached SW tank SG and are still in the brackish water area?

Before you add any new livestock to the tank you need to get a handle on basic tank maintenance. Get some quality test kits and a refactometer for SG. Only then will you be able to maintain a successful tank. You really have to know what is going on in the tank.

Yiou may also need to invest in a chiller if you don't run AC in the fish tank room.