Dying gsp?

[AJE]

So my mom bought this green spotted puffer yesterday(currently in a 15g freshwater till a friend of mine sets up a brackish tank), it was fine and active yesterday, but today he’s been super sluggish and just sitting on the bottom of the tank. It has been in that same spot for a few hours. What’s wrong?

 

[Guppylover3x]

So my mom bought this green spotted puffer yesterday(currently in a 15g freshwater till a friend of mine sets up a brackish tank), it was fine and active yesterday, but today he’s been super sluggish and just sitting on the bottom of the tank. It has been in that same spot for a few hours. What’s wrong? View attachment 91676 View attachment 91677 View attachment 91678

Hi and welcome to the forum

How long has the tank been set up? If you could post your parameters, this could contribute towards helping solve the problem.

75% weekly water changes are recommended during cycling.

Any ammonia or nitrites in the water can irritate the fish. The PH is important to, as some species prefer to naturally live in harder water than others. The GH result will usually be similar to the PH.

If you don’t have a water testing kit your take a sample to your local fish store and write down the results.

I don’t have much experience with puffer fish in particular. But from my knowledge, they like a slightly higher PH above 7.2.

Best of luck!

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I agree with everything @Guppylover3x said. Was he active when you got him?

 

[AJE]

Hi and welcome to the forum

How long has the tank been set up? If you could post your parameters, this could contribute towards helping solve the problem.

75% weekly water changes are recommended during cycling.

Any ammonia or nitrites in the water can irritate the fish. The PH is important to, as some species prefer to naturally live in harder water than others. The GH result will usually be similar to the PH.

If you don’t have a water testing kit your take a sample to your local fish store and write down the results.

I don’t have much experience with puffer fish in particular. But from my knowledge, they like a slightly higher PH above 7.2.

Best of luck!

Thanks. It’s been set up for about 18 months. Ammonia is 0 ph is 6.6

I agree with everything @Guppylover3x said. Was he active when you got him?

He was pretty active he was eating but doesn’t want to eat today

 

[Guppylover3x]

Thanks. It’s been set up for about 18 months. Ammonia is 0 ph is 6.6

He was pretty active he was eating but doesn’t want to eat today

The positive news is that the tank is cycled.

Most fish keepers aim to keep nitrates below 20. However, ideally you should be aiming to keep them below 10.

I think the PH might be a little low for the fish. If he wasn’t acclimated correctly, this could also be a result of what you’re currently seeing.

I use mineral additives in my guppy tank because I also live in a soft water area. This keeps my parameters in check. Most members recommend riftwood lake salt.

Adding shells can also increase the PH.

Hopefully other members can assist further with your difficulties. I hope your fish pulls through!

Best of luck.

 

[AJE]

The positive news is that the tank is cycled.

Most fish keepers aim to keep nitrates below 20. However, ideally you should be aiming to keep them below 10.

I think the PH might be a little low for the fish. If he wasn’t acclimated correctly, this could also be a result of what you’re currently seeing.

I use mineral additives in my guppy tank because I also live in a soft water area. This keeps my parameters in check. Most members recommend riftwood lake salt.

Adding shells can also increase the PH.

Hopefully other members can assist further with your difficulties. I hope your fish pulls through!

Best of luck.

I don’t know it was because I didn’t acclimate him correctly, I floated the bag for 30 min and drip acclimated for 20. But maybe the store has it in brackish water, in which case I probably didn’t drip long enough. That would make sense though

 

[AJE]

The positive news is that the tank is cycled.

Most fish keepers aim to keep nitrates below 20. However, ideally you should be aiming to keep them below 10.

I think the PH might be a little low for the fish. If he wasn’t acclimated correctly, this could also be a result of what you’re currently seeing.

I use mineral additives in my guppy tank because I also live in a soft water area. This keeps my parameters in check. Most members recommend riftwood lake salt.

Adding shells can also increase the PH.

Hopefully other members can assist further with your difficulties. I hope your fish pulls through!

Best of luck.

Oh and whoops, I missed the 7 and hit 6 for ph sorry lol

 

[Colin_T]

Do 75% water changes each day until the water clears up. It's currently cloudy and that's an indication something is wrong.

The fish also has clamped fins and might have an external protozoan infection, or there is something wrong with the tank water.

Ask the pet shop what the pH of their water is.

Check the shop tank and see how their fish look.

 

[AJE]

Do 75% water changes each day until the water clears up. It's currently cloudy and that's an indication something is wrong.

The fish also has clamped fins and might have an external protozoan infection, or there is something wrong with the tank water.

Ask the pet shop what the pH of their water is.

Check the shop tank and see how their fish look.

The water isn’t cloudy, the glass is just kind of stained and the substrate just got kicked up because I did a partial water change. Thanks for the response! The shop is pretty far away. How do I treat external protozoan?

 

[Colin_T]

External protozoan infections can be treated with different things. Malachite Green and Copper will kill all external protozoan infections. However, Malachite Green is carcinogenic (causes cancer) and Copper will kill invertebrates (shrimp, crabs, corals, etc). Copper is the safer of the too.

If the fish has whitespot or velvet, you can treat it with heat. Raise the water temperature to 30C (86F) and keep it there for 2 weeks.

If the fish has Costia, Chilodonella or Trichodina, you can treat it with salt.

Is the pufferfish from brackish (partly salty) water or pure freshwater?
If it's a brackish water species then you can add a lot of salt to the tank. If the puffer is from freshwater then use the lower dose rate of salt (see below).​

-------------------------
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate will affect some plants. The lower dose rate will not affect plants.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that.

 

[AJE]

External protozoan infections can be treated with different things. Malachite Green and Copper will kill all external protozoan infections. However, Malachite Green is carcinogenic (causes cancer) and Copper will kill invertebrates (shrimp, crabs, corals, etc). Copper is the safer of the too.

If the fish has whitespot or velvet, you can treat it with heat. Raise the water temperature to 30C (86F) and keep it there for 2 weeks.

If the fish has Costia, Chilodonella or Trichodina, you can treat it with salt.

Is the pufferfish from brackish (partly salty) water or pure freshwater?
If it's a brackish water species then you can add a lot of salt to the tank. If the puffer is from freshwater then use the lower dose rate of salt (see below).​

-------------------------
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate will affect some plants. The lower dose rate will not affect plants.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that.

Wow! Thanks for the great info! Yes it is a brackish species but can live for a smaller portion of its life in freshwater(he’ll go into a brackish tank if my friend decides to take the puffer)

 

[Colin_T]

If it's a brackish water species, then use the maximum dose of salt, and get the pH above 7.0.

 

[AJE]

If it's a brackish water species, then use the maximum dose of salt, and get the pH above 7.0.

I don’t have any salt here though that’s the problem and why my friend is supposed to take it

 

[AJE]

He’s doing worse today

 

[Colin_T]

Do water changes and get some salt.