Puffer breathing fast?

[mlefessler]

I've noticed that my GSP is breathing a little fast and out of one gill. Sometimes I've noticed that he will "switch" gills. Kind of like when you have a cold and you can only breathe out of one nostril. One minute it will be his right not not moving, then his left and vice versa. Is this something I should be concerned about?

Other than that, he's a very healthy green, no stress lines, his belly is a gleaming white, his appetite is great and he's still buzzing around the tank like normal.

His water parameters are:
pH: 7.8
Temperature: 78 F
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 5
SG: 1.006

I have attached a link to a small video of him (I don't know if you can tell, but his right gill is moving and his left gill is closed shut).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGsi684dCbY

I thought it was ammonia / nitrite poisoning? Internal parasites? Gill flukes? Any ideas?

 

[Pufferpunk]

How long have you had him?
Is the 1st time you've noticed this?
Is he eating/swimming normally?
Any recent new additions?

 

[mlefessler]

Oooh, PufferPunk! Yay - I finally get to speak with you! =D

How long have you had him?
<I'd say about a month....perhaps a little more.>

Is the 1st time you've noticed this?
<Yep. He was fine a week ago. Now he's kind of sluggish and breathing weird. No rubbing up against anything, though. Still buzzing around the tank like he normally does, and occasionally "napping" at the bottom - no tail curling - just laying there.>

Is he eating/swimming normally?
<As far as eating, he still eats his normal diet - snails, brine shrimp, frozen plankton, etc. - and gobbles it down all the while making a huge mess. Swimming, he's still moving around the tank. He's rather sluggish, but nothing I think is of a huge concern.>

Any recent new additions?
<Ahh, this is where you'll yell at me - he lives with a danio (I cycled the tank with him as freshwater and then eventually he became brackish at 1.006...still kicking and doing well). And a blue gourami (I know, I know......). However, I am driving three hours from my hometown to pick up a 55-gallon tank (he'd better fold my laundry!). That will be his permanent home and I will convert the 20-gallon that he's in now back into freshwater for the gourami and danio (drip acclimating them back into fresh, of course!).

Other than that, that's that!

 

[Pufferpunk]

Maybe add an airstone. Take a flashlight & look at his gills very closely & look for flukes/worms or anything else you can see.