I am very sad my black spotted puffer is not doing well. He is breathing very heavy, hasn't eaten for several days and suddenly has big black splotches all over him. Does anyone know what is causing this? I have had him about 6 years and I feel helpless to help him and hes suffering, makes me very sad. Ammonia is 0 nitrites 0 ph 8.1 nitrates about 80.
Sick Puffer
- Thread starter clj1113
- Start date
A general cure such as prazipro? There is no way i can get him out of the tank without tearing the whole thing apart. Is prazipro safe for feather dusters? I have a smaller tank sharing the same sump with main tank and dont want to kill my feather dusters or inverts.
Last edited:
Chris27
New member
The pic is a little blurry but sometimes when they get stressed they will have black splotches on their skin, can't really tell with the picture.
Given that it's a puffer, not eating would definitely worry me also. Did you observe it eating anything it wasn't supposed to, ie. algae clips, rubber suction cups, powerhead plastic? Has your water changed at all, like a temp change or salinity change? Did it recently puff up? Has it not pooped in a few days?
Pulling it out and getting it into a QT would be the best idea right now, nice clean water at a proper temp and salinity in a small tank would allow for a better identification of what's really wrong.
Given that it's a puffer, not eating would definitely worry me also. Did you observe it eating anything it wasn't supposed to, ie. algae clips, rubber suction cups, powerhead plastic? Has your water changed at all, like a temp change or salinity change? Did it recently puff up? Has it not pooped in a few days?
Pulling it out and getting it into a QT would be the best idea right now, nice clean water at a proper temp and salinity in a small tank would allow for a better identification of what's really wrong.
ty both for your replies. I'm sad to say he passed during the night. The only thing I ever observed him biting on was the rocks. I hadn't observed his pooping for years. I have alot of live rock in there with lots of caves which my puffer loved. I'm not sure if the splotchyness was due to stress or something else. It was alot darker than what i had ever seen him do before, which he would darken a little during water changes but this was more solid and 10x darker than I had ever witnessed. When I removed him I saw no visible signs of anything on him except the darkening of the skin. Salinity was stable, temp might vary 1-2 degrees from day to night but that has always been that way. No one else in the tank is showing any signs of stress and all still have ravenous appetites. Could it be that he just died of old age? I have no idea how long a puffer lives. He was the first fish I bought after cycling the tank many years ago and he is going to be greatly missed.
