Green spotted Puffer Stressed?

[Trouty]

Hi All, I was wondering if you could help me. I have a green spotted puffer which has been really stressed in the last week or so. I have no idea why this is the case. I changed the water and that didn't work. I'm lost ad I decided to just put him in a hospital tank as he could be suffering from something that I can't see. His white creamy bottom has a few spots with a dark gray/black tone and there are two spots, pitch black in color that are located on both the left and right sides of his mouth. I've always use that as an indicator for stress and this time, it doesn't seem to be working. He's always been in good health until now. I can't seem to figure out what's wrong with him... Would appreciate any suggestions.

[cdawson]

did you cycle your tank, what's your salt level? Do you treat your water accordingly? We need your water parameters before we can help. Also does he have the appropriate hiding spots and places to explore?

I myself have a gsp and he gets stressed like you say when anything happens not to his liking. If the lights are on for too long, he gets stressed. If the bubbles are off for more than a minute, he gets stressed. make sure that his water is a close to home for him as possible and he won't get so stressed.

[Trouty]

I had my GSP for over a year now and I've basically used the same technique during water changes. I use about 2 teaspoons per 1.5 gallons of water during water changes. 've checked ammonia, nitrate, and nitritre and all levels are perfect... He's never been like this before. He's also really sluggish now. He's on a hospital tank so I have no hiding place for him in that tank... I don't know what his problem is...

[Pufferpunk]

That doesn't sound like nearly enough salt. Get a hydrometer & slowly raise the specific gravity to 1.010. How is his appetite? What are you feeding? How large is he & the tank? Who are his tankmates?

[Trouty]

I will try to inscrease the salt levels slowly. Right now he is all alone in a 10 gal hospital tank. He was doing much better here than in the 30 gallon he was originally living in. His tank mates are two plecostamus. I feed him frozen blood worms and brine shrimp. He was eating fine for the past three days, but his appetite changed somewhat on Saturday and Sunday...

[Trouty]

I forgot to add that he is about two inches long and has been sluggish since Friday night.

[Pufferpunk]

If he's 2", he's probably ready for some higher salt levels. Use marine salt. The plecos won't like it. I hope that perks him up.:)

[Trouty]

Pufferpunk, what kind of marine salt would you recommend? I'm just using Freshwater Aquarium salt...

[Pufferpunk]

I doesn't really matter, I use Instant Ocean or whatever is cheapest. As long as it is for SW aquariums.

[Trouty]

how much sea salt do I put in? And how do I go about adding it into the tank? Do I mix it with water and put it in?

[Pufferpunk]

That's what the hydrometer is for. It measured th specific gravity of the water sfter you add salt. Measure the water now, & bring up the salinity .002 points every weekly water change. I just add the salt into the filter stream. Eventually you'll be adding cups at a time, not tbsps.

[Trouty]

Thanks! I think it worked. I bought a small box of Instant ocean, mixed in some water and salt and increased the salinity to 1.002. He's 10X better than before! I'll continue to gradually increase in the next few weeks. So 1.01 is ideal, correct?

[Trouty]

ok... it's been about an hour and he changed right back to his stressed levels... Any ideas? He ate fine last week. He used to be the first one to eat. Now he's disinterested in eating although he looks full... I don't know if he's been picking up off the bottom... Sigh

[Pufferpunk]

Puffers are wild-caught fish & a lot of them come in with internal parasites. I treat all my questionable puffers with Discomed, by Aquatronics. If you can't find it at your lfs, you can order it (& lots of other goodies) at www.bigalsonline.com. You will need to soak his food in it & feed 2x/day for a week.

[Trouty]

NOw he's somewhat puffed up... he's not puffed all the way... more like half way... but he's in a tank all by hiimself?

[Pufferpunk]

Some puffers puff for the heck of it. Folks say they are excercizing their "puffing" tecniques. I've never seen mine puff. Just to be safe, turn the lights off for the night.

[Trouty]

Hey PufferPunk. That's for the support. I think I know what the problem is. I see little red string things hanging out from the gills and his fin adjecent to the gills. What type of parasite is this? I've never seen this before? What meds do I use? He doesn't want to eat... THanks for all your help. I think we narrowed it down finally.

[Trouty]

Ok I took tweezers and we pulled out what was hanging from his gills. Didn't seem to be alive or anything. Looked like stringy grayish brown gunk. I'm going to take a look under a microscope.

[cdawson]

puffer fish don't have gill covers, this could just be some sort of infection he got from nitrate poisoning or something (two plecos and a GSP in a 35 gal. is going to create ALOT of waste even too much for that tank). My GSP creates almost too much waste for himself and he's in a 50 gallon all by himself right now.

[Pufferpunk]

Could be gill flukes. Like I said, wild-caught fish come with all sorts of parasites.

[Trouty]

Oh Well, He's gone. Just passed away a few minutes ago. I check the water every week, but I guess that's enough. I loved that fish. I had hom for 14 months. What a sad end.

[Pufferpunk]

Wow, I'm so sorry to hear that, how sad. =( Are you going to get another one? I'd get rid of the plecos & start over rinsing out the tank w/hot water & fishless cycle.