I posted this in The Puffer Forum, but I figured I would get a second opinion here, so I'll just copy and paste my posts from that thread. I'll edit it a bit here so it makes sense.
Heres the original post: http://www.**************.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=18450&p=192569#p192569
Sometimes when I pass by the tank, I give the puffers a friendly tap on the glass, I dunno why, just out of habit, and it never seemed to bother them, and it was always a pretty light tap. I guess I did it particularly hard today, and I scared the CRAP out of one of my GSPs! He swam around faster than Ive ever seen, jumped, and attempted to bury himself in the sand, all within about half a second. But as he was burrowing, he froze. His eyes were listless, no breathing, no fin movement, nothing, just floating. I freaked out, and thinking he had done a small puff and swallowed some air during the jump, I tried to 'burp' him as best I could remember from reading, and I think I may have gotten some out, because I did it towards the bottom and I saw some sand blow away on the first 5 or so attempts. I held him upright in my hand for a few seconds and he started to gain movement again, but he couldnt stay 100% upright or swim on his own very well for a few minutes, and now has regained most of his movement but is currently cowering behind a plant....
That was last night, heres today:
Bad news... I woke up this morning (actually like 5 minutes ago) and found him in the same state, but this time with his colors faded, I was sure he had to be dead, I had no idea how long he'd been like that. So I tried the same thing as last time, and it worked again! He had sucked in some sand and I brushed it out of his mouth once he started breathing again, and I held him upright while he got his bearings.
What should I do? I put some shirts in front of the glass last night and kept the lights off longer than usual to let him calm down, I guess that didnt work... I even slept downstairs to avoid disturbing him...Ammonia is zero, salinity is 1.010 (working on bringing it up), pH is 7.4, tank is about 25 gallons, has one other GSP of the same size (about an inch and a half), I feed them every day, skipping Fridays, and I feed them bloodworms, krill, the occasional mealworm, snails from the LFS, and wild caught baby ghost crabs, freshwater clams and shrimp when I can get them. I change the water on Saturdays (was on vacation this Saturday, changing it as soon as this guy is back to normal), and I use some algae remover every once in a while and dechlorinator/stress stuff to the tap water when I change it. The only changes I have made lately were some plant trimming and a new layer of argonite sand to cover up some of the gravel in there to look nicer. Its been set up since November I beleive, and wasnt cycled at the time (dumb move, but it worked) but for 5 months I kept a bluegill, 2 baby bullhead cats, and an American eel in there.
At the moment hes just cowering behind the filter looking terrified out of his mind...
I almost cried when I thought I had lost him, and I feel awful for both breaking the tapping on the glass law and almost killing him... http://www.**************.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_sad.gif
Thoughts, suggestions, help, anything would be appreciated.
Heres the original post: http://www.**************.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=18450&p=192569#p192569
Sometimes when I pass by the tank, I give the puffers a friendly tap on the glass, I dunno why, just out of habit, and it never seemed to bother them, and it was always a pretty light tap. I guess I did it particularly hard today, and I scared the CRAP out of one of my GSPs! He swam around faster than Ive ever seen, jumped, and attempted to bury himself in the sand, all within about half a second. But as he was burrowing, he froze. His eyes were listless, no breathing, no fin movement, nothing, just floating. I freaked out, and thinking he had done a small puff and swallowed some air during the jump, I tried to 'burp' him as best I could remember from reading, and I think I may have gotten some out, because I did it towards the bottom and I saw some sand blow away on the first 5 or so attempts. I held him upright in my hand for a few seconds and he started to gain movement again, but he couldnt stay 100% upright or swim on his own very well for a few minutes, and now has regained most of his movement but is currently cowering behind a plant....
That was last night, heres today:
Bad news... I woke up this morning (actually like 5 minutes ago) and found him in the same state, but this time with his colors faded, I was sure he had to be dead, I had no idea how long he'd been like that. So I tried the same thing as last time, and it worked again! He had sucked in some sand and I brushed it out of his mouth once he started breathing again, and I held him upright while he got his bearings.
What should I do? I put some shirts in front of the glass last night and kept the lights off longer than usual to let him calm down, I guess that didnt work... I even slept downstairs to avoid disturbing him...Ammonia is zero, salinity is 1.010 (working on bringing it up), pH is 7.4, tank is about 25 gallons, has one other GSP of the same size (about an inch and a half), I feed them every day, skipping Fridays, and I feed them bloodworms, krill, the occasional mealworm, snails from the LFS, and wild caught baby ghost crabs, freshwater clams and shrimp when I can get them. I change the water on Saturdays (was on vacation this Saturday, changing it as soon as this guy is back to normal), and I use some algae remover every once in a while and dechlorinator/stress stuff to the tap water when I change it. The only changes I have made lately were some plant trimming and a new layer of argonite sand to cover up some of the gravel in there to look nicer. Its been set up since November I beleive, and wasnt cycled at the time (dumb move, but it worked) but for 5 months I kept a bluegill, 2 baby bullhead cats, and an American eel in there.
At the moment hes just cowering behind the filter looking terrified out of his mind...
I almost cried when I thought I had lost him, and I feel awful for both breaking the tapping on the glass law and almost killing him... http://www.**************.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_sad.gif
Thoughts, suggestions, help, anything would be appreciated.
