Im really worried about my puffer fish PLEASE HELP!

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Leigh Ann

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Apr 16, 2010
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Yesterday when I woke up it didnt swim right up looking for food as it usually does and I found it sitting in the back corner with its tail curled up next to it and it stomach was dark. (everytime it gets scared it stomach turns dark) I moved the tank out some to get a better look and it still stayed sitting. Then after a little bit it got up and wanted food, its color went back to normal and it swam around all day until night time I found it again sitting under a plant. Its stomach was dark but its tail was not curled up next to it, it was not spread out either though. Then once I looked at it and put my finger on the tank infront of it it started swimming around like normal again. So I figured maybe it was just chillin. lol This morning when I woke up it was swimming around waiting for food like normal but I just went in the a minute ago and it was sitting under the plant again tummy all dark. I had to leave and when I came back it was acting fine. But now it has been sitting under the plant for awhile the same way. Sometimes when it gets up it flips around all quick like its trying to get the sand off its head or something, I dunno what its doing. I have notice for a couple of weeks that alot of times its color looks a little cloudy. its not light or faded just cloudy but sometimes it is really bright so I dont know. What is going on??? its never acted this way before. I dont see any other signs of any kind of sickness. It has been living with that heater in there for awhile so I dont think its the temp. I even thought maybe it burned itself but I dont see any marks. I have kept the little guy/girl alive for awhile now and I really dont want anything to happen to it.

I am in the first week of changing the water from fresh to brackish
 
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kibow

Registered Member
Nov 21, 2009
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How big is the tank and whats the sg of your tank. If you went beyond .002 sg a week you could go through a mini cycle. What kind of puffer do you have? From the post I think it's a green spotted puffer, if it is you need a tank at least 30 gal. Also what are your tank readings; as in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph.
 
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Markushka

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Jul 5, 2009
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NW New Jersey
You really want to go slow with raising the SG, i'd say even .001 every two weeks to be safe. your fish have been in freshwater for a long time since the came from walmart as you mentioned in your previous thread. I'd also say test kits for SW are better for brackish than FW ones. you also don't want to go full salt with a GS puffer, they do better in a high brackish water. I acclimated one to full salt slowly and it didn't last three months in full salt.
 
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Leigh Ann

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Apr 16, 2010
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It seems to be doing better now. I think I may have been over feeding it. I saw somewhere on the net that you should feed them small amounts 3 times a day, I was doing that for about a week and then it started doing that. I looked up how much to feed it again and I found that when they are smaller you feed them once a day and then once they get a little bigger once every other day and then when they are really big every 3 days. IS THAT TRUE??? It seems backwards to me. But since I stopped feeding it so much it seems fine. I think it may have took a bite out of the dragon fishes tail though lol. I only raised the salt once so far and I did it a little below .002 Im supposed to do it again tomorrow and I am going put a little less than I did last time. Im having trouble figuring out what the levels of everything should be when its in the transition from fresh to brackish. I looked everywhere for info on how to change it to brackish and once I did it this is what I did. I did half of the water completely fresh and then mixed the other half in a bucket with no other kinds of treatments just the salt and put it in the tank until I had a pefect reading of a little below .002. Is that how your supposed to do it? Also, all the test kits I find tell you the results by color. If my tank is not fresh or salt then how can I know what the color should be? Right now I dont know what the chemicals should be at all because it is in a transition its not really fresh or brackish so Im confused. Thanks for helping with all of my questions. I may be over thinking a little but I just want to do all I can to keep the little dude/dudette alive.
 
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Leigh Ann

AC Members
Apr 16, 2010
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Oh and I have a green spotted puffer. my tank is too small right now its only a ten gallon but it is still pretty small too and I plan on getting a 30 gallon before it gets much bigger. It seems to be doing fine with the tank and I dont think it was the salt either. I think I really may have just been over feeding it I found somewhere that over feeding is one reason they may act like that.
 
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Markushka

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Jul 5, 2009
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NW New Jersey
you were really feeding that guy a lot! I feed all my fish every other day and they are looking fine with that.

In my opinion you could just dissolve some salt in a small volume of water and then add that to your tank instead of the whole confusing bucket thing you were talking about. How are you measuring the Specific Gravity? Also keep in mind evaporation will lead to a rise in SG and fresh water needs to be added to keep the SG stable.

again, you test kits will work fine with brackish water, you will have to use the colour cards that your sample resembles closely if there are separate cards. For most tests the colours should be the same wether it was freshwater or salt, certain readings such as pH will be different due to the NaCl in the water. (NaCl buffers pH up, full SW tanks usually have a pH of around 8.4)

some other things you should not is that puffers need to be fed snails and the like to wear down their beaks, and they may not tolerate tank mates that are of the same size or even larger sometimes. they are curious little buggers and may try to sample everything in the tank, even other inhabitants.
 
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Leigh Ann

AC Members
Apr 16, 2010
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I guess I am going to have to look for some different test strips because on mine the shades of the colors on the color chart for freshwater are pretty different than salt. I just kinda made it were it is in between the two but closer to fresh water since I just started changing it. I have a cheap little hydrometer/thermometer. I feed it snails, how often do you think you need to do that? Im having a problem finding them anywhere. Once I get ahold of some again I am going to start a little tank just for them so they will multipy. Thanks for all the info :)
 
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Markushka

AC Members
Jul 5, 2009
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NW New Jersey
You might want to look into getting the api saltwater test kit then. I dont know about the snails, i used to feed mine them every other day or so since I had a lot. you could ask for them at your LFS, they used to even give the brown ones away for free.
 
Pufferpunk

Pufferpunk

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Mar 22, 2002
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www.thepufferforum.com
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