Keep a close eye on him to see if it gets worse. Try to keep him eating regularly, and watch for a black tummy and lying on the ground.
Green Leopard Puffer
- Thread starter LeslieAW
- Start date
Frozen squid, oysters, shrimp, mussels, any seafood with shells, would be a great start. (frozen, to kill any parasites/diseases, but thawed prior to feeding.. lol) That is a pretty odd looking humpback.
ive got one that I feed Hikari floating cichlid pellets.,, he loves em., and you can hear him crunchin them up,.,.,lol.,., you gotta feed the something hard every now and then to keep their teeth from over growing
Sounds like a nematode worm under his skin. Not good. You can leave it in there & hope the other fish doesn't get it or seperate them. There is nothing you can do about the worm. If you kill it, the rotting worm body will infect the fish. Just keep him comfortable & try to get him to eat.
Was this tank cycled before you added the puffers? Ammonia/nitrite must be 0 at all times, nitrate <20, pH should remain steady around 8.
An Introduction to Green Spotted Puffers
Feeding your Puffers
Was this tank cycled before you added the puffers? Ammonia/nitrite must be 0 at all times, nitrate <20, pH should remain steady around 8.
An Introduction to Green Spotted Puffers
Feeding your Puffers
I just got a green spotted puffer for my 30 gallon as well. They are a freshwater fish when young and slowly adapt to Brackish to salt. The only salt I have in my tank is 1 tablespoon/5gallons. He is still pretty small though. He would not eat anything I tried to feed him and seems to lean towards live foods. I also keep ghost shrimp in this tank and I have seen him munching on a few of those already. His belly gets so big he almost loses his balance when swimming!! Very cool fish. Very few fish eat within the first couple of days of having them. Most likely they were couped up in a bag being shipped to the pet store for 12hours, then tossed into a pet store tank for a day, then back in the bag, then in your tank, so it takes them awhile to get used to your water. Once they do, they are eating machines. Mine had ich when I bought him, treated with Wardleys ICH away, now I have him in a 30 gallon community tank with a clown loach 3 inches, fancy tail goldfish 4inches, irradescent shark 3", and about 30 ghost shrimp. I also have a feeder goldfish that got a piece of his tail sliced off by my puffer too.
Matthew, Some of your advice is great but the tankmates you have in there aren't going to work at all.
1) Clown loaches will grow quite large & do not like salt. They also like to be in the comppany of other CLs.
2) GF are coldwater fish & don't belong in a tropical tank. They produce a ton of waste (as your puffer will) & at 4" should be in a 30g tank on it's own.
3) Here is your irridescent shark:
And no, I'm not kidding...
4) I suggest highly against treating ich with meds, especially for a puffer.
See: TREATING ICH
5)As far as feeding your puffer, only feed until his belly is slightly rounded, not so stuffed he can barely swim. Feed 1x/day when a juvie, skipping a fasting day/week.
1) Clown loaches will grow quite large & do not like salt. They also like to be in the comppany of other CLs.
2) GF are coldwater fish & don't belong in a tropical tank. They produce a ton of waste (as your puffer will) & at 4" should be in a 30g tank on it's own.
3) Here is your irridescent shark:
And no, I'm not kidding...
4) I suggest highly against treating ich with meds, especially for a puffer.
See: TREATING ICH
5)As far as feeding your puffer, only feed until his belly is slightly rounded, not so stuffed he can barely swim. Feed 1x/day when a juvie, skipping a fasting day/week.
My tank is actually a 37 gallon. My mistake. The 37g tank is a grow tank for my smaller fish. The goldfish is fine in the 78 degree temp, I had him in my 150 but my oscar likes the taste of his tail. I do not put more than 1 tablespoon of salt/5 gallons in my tank and that will not severely affect my loach. I bought the LFS last loach, but they have another one with my name on it on the next order. I put salt in all of my tanks with no negative affect. He will only be in this tank until he can grow another inch or 2 and he'll then go in my 150. I know how big all of my fish get. Thanks for the interesting pic, but that shark is over 10 years old. Mine is about 7 months old and 3 inches. These sharks grow very slowly. I also have 2 pacu, and yes I know how big they get as well. I would not purchase a fish without researching first. My 37 gallon is only being used as a temporary tank for all of my smaller fish. I understand that the puffer is not a community tank fish, but as long as he has his own hiding, and all of the other fish are not aggresive but can defend themselves, there will not be an issue until he requires more salt in his diet (Which I have a 55gallon that will be his new home).
The ich med was used at half dosage, I treated the tank 3 times in a 3 day period, I also did a 25% water change after each day so the ich med would not build up. When I got him from my LFS, they had the tank on hold for over 2 weeks, So it seems that their treatment was not complete when I received him. The puffer no longer has ich and has not shown any signs of stress from treatment. I am very careful when treating for ich.
I can not limit how many ghost shrimp he eats. He only seems to eat one a day and the next day he poops it out and eats another. But he seems to always pick up the biggest, fatest, ghost shrimp in the tank. Surprisingly, being the smallest fish in the tank, he has the largest poop. As for filtrations, I have 2 60 gallon HOB filters and I do a 30% water change weekly if you are worried about the goldie and the puffer being messy. I am already aware of everything you have told me, but I have taken all of the nessacary precautions, but thank you.
The ich med was used at half dosage, I treated the tank 3 times in a 3 day period, I also did a 25% water change after each day so the ich med would not build up. When I got him from my LFS, they had the tank on hold for over 2 weeks, So it seems that their treatment was not complete when I received him. The puffer no longer has ich and has not shown any signs of stress from treatment. I am very careful when treating for ich.
I can not limit how many ghost shrimp he eats. He only seems to eat one a day and the next day he poops it out and eats another. But he seems to always pick up the biggest, fatest, ghost shrimp in the tank. Surprisingly, being the smallest fish in the tank, he has the largest poop. As for filtrations, I have 2 60 gallon HOB filters and I do a 30% water change weekly if you are worried about the goldie and the puffer being messy. I am already aware of everything you have told me, but I have taken all of the nessacary precautions, but thank you.
Thanks for the explaination. My only intretest is for the health & well-being of the fish. I'd up those water changes to at least 50% weekly.
As soon as I put the puffer in my tank I noticed my nitrate rose after 3 days, so you may be right on the 50% water change weekly. I will keep a close eye on my water tests and come up with a healthy solution to make sure everything in the tank stays healthy. I don't mean to get on the defensive side, I am very passionate about fishkeeping and I try to do all the research I can so I make my pets happy.
