Hi,
I purchased a valentini puffer about 2 months ago. He's only about 2.5". He was eating really well. He was actually trying to steal shrimp out of my baby dwarf fuzzy lion fish's mouth. There's also a bunch of hermits, 2 star fish and a huge arrow crab. He's in a 45 gallon with 3 XL blue green chromes as well. I noticed that he would get a bit rounder on and off. I was thinking he just ate a lot and filled up. He was crazy for food. However, he started eating the flake food that I was feeding the chromes. I also feed frozen cubes of krill, miss shrimp and brine, frozen whole krill, pieces of raw shrimp and clams on a half shell ( not too interested in. I fed this twice). Last Saturday, he got very round. He's been active. So I added some epsom salt to the tank. My PH dropped and I added a buffer to bring it up. It is at 8.71. I put him in a critter carrier inside my tank and tried feeding him peas. He did not touch them. I also tried soaked nori pellets and strips. He didn't eat it. I purchased Easy Mastick 40 . It was suggested by my LFS. It is plankton. He won't touch anything. Then I noticed a couple of little white poops. I took him out of the carrier and dosed the tank with Prazi. It has been 5 days. My PH, is having a hard time staying up. It wants to dip a little. So I added more buffer. I'm going to add an airline. Nitrates have creeped up today between 50-100. My ammonia and nitrites are 0. Yesterday I fed once and today as well. I am cutting back on the feeding. The puffer won't eat anything. I even tried scallops. Do I do a water change ; I am only on day 5 of the Prazi or hold out a little longer? I noticed on his right side, there is a shimmery copper/red color and green on the black. I don't know if it is because he is so puffed out. He is lopsided too. He's larger on one side than the other. I can see something round and dark in the lower part of this chest. I don't know if it is just his organs. I did see him rub up against the lionfish when he was playing tug a war. I had to separate them by pushing a tong up against the puffer. That is when things started to go downhill. Maybe I stressed him? Could he have gotten stung? Does he need to poop? I have only see a tiny brown poop and the 2 white poops in the carrier. He is swimming. What should I do for this little guy? All the other critters are good in the tank.
I purchased a valentini puffer about 2 months ago. He's only about 2.5". He was eating really well. He was actually trying to steal shrimp out of my baby dwarf fuzzy lion fish's mouth. There's also a bunch of hermits, 2 star fish and a huge arrow crab. He's in a 45 gallon with 3 XL blue green chromes as well. I noticed that he would get a bit rounder on and off. I was thinking he just ate a lot and filled up. He was crazy for food. However, he started eating the flake food that I was feeding the chromes. I also feed frozen cubes of krill, miss shrimp and brine, frozen whole krill, pieces of raw shrimp and clams on a half shell ( not too interested in. I fed this twice). Last Saturday, he got very round. He's been active. So I added some epsom salt to the tank. My PH dropped and I added a buffer to bring it up. It is at 8.71. I put him in a critter carrier inside my tank and tried feeding him peas. He did not touch them. I also tried soaked nori pellets and strips. He didn't eat it. I purchased Easy Mastick 40 . It was suggested by my LFS. It is plankton. He won't touch anything. Then I noticed a couple of little white poops. I took him out of the carrier and dosed the tank with Prazi. It has been 5 days. My PH, is having a hard time staying up. It wants to dip a little. So I added more buffer. I'm going to add an airline. Nitrates have creeped up today between 50-100. My ammonia and nitrites are 0. Yesterday I fed once and today as well. I am cutting back on the feeding. The puffer won't eat anything. I even tried scallops. Do I do a water change ; I am only on day 5 of the Prazi or hold out a little longer? I noticed on his right side, there is a shimmery copper/red color and green on the black. I don't know if it is because he is so puffed out. He is lopsided too. He's larger on one side than the other. I can see something round and dark in the lower part of this chest. I don't know if it is just his organs. I did see him rub up against the lionfish when he was playing tug a war. I had to separate them by pushing a tong up against the puffer. That is when things started to go downhill. Maybe I stressed him? Could he have gotten stung? Does he need to poop? I have only see a tiny brown poop and the 2 white poops in the carrier. He is swimming. What should I do for this little guy? All the other critters are good in the tank.
Last edited: