Poorly Blue Spotted Puffer fish... Ostraciid?  -- 3/31/10
Hi,
<Hello>
I did a water change and cleaned the sand in my marine tank yesterday. I added the Bio supplement and chlorine removal (as I had used tap water to clean the sand) and afterwards tested the salinity with a hydrometer and the level was fine, as were all other tests.
<Mmm... I would pre-mix new water per here:
http://wetwebmedia.com/water4maruse.htm
<
When I got up this morning my blue spotted puffer was lying on his side and gasping. I performed all the tests again and found using the hydrometer that the salinity had dropped
<?>
but was still within the tolerance.
I have added some more salt water and on the aquarists advice invested in a spectrometer, as she informed me hydrometers are notoriously inaccurate - this showed the level of salinity to be well low (approx 0.018).
<1.018>
Hopefully the addition of salt water will bring the salinity level up but is there anything I can do to help the puffer fish until such time? My other fish are swimming about, although not as energetically as usual so poor Mr. Puffer seems to be the worst affected.
<There is some concern I want to express re the possibility of poisoning...
Read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/boxfshcompfaqs.htm
and here: http://wetwebmedia.com/boxfshdisfaqs.htm
Bob Fenner> 

Valentini puffer, beh., sys.  10/17/09
Hi Crew,
<Nat>
I have a query about my valentini puffer; I have checked out lots and lots of your pages and FAQs and haven't been able to find the answer.
Hopefully you can help or shed some light on this issue.
We have a 35 gallon tank with live rock, coral (Zoanthus),
<Mmmm>
xenias, 2 percula clowns, 1 purple Dottyback, 1 watchman goby, a cleaner shrimp (hanging in there but with seriously manicured antennae) and our little valentini puffer.
<"that little nipper..."
We've had him about 6 months now.
I checked the parameters last night and everything seemed to be ok-ish, nitrate is fine, nitrite 0.1, phosphate 0, pH between 8.1 and 8.3 and ammonia ok.
The issue is that for the last week or so the puffer has been attacking his reflection in the glass really often,
<Not atypical behavior>
approximately 10/15 times a day. This is a definite increase in his usual amount of attacking. I don't know if this is normal behaviour or not but he seems really aggressive and persistent,
<Is normal... I would coat the side panel with dark paper...>
and afterwards he seems really tired with rapid breathing. I am worried that he may injure himself. He usually attacks his reflection in the front glass panel and not really the sides.
Could this be a developmental thing? Moving from being a juvenile to an adult?
<Yes; much more so with age>
He is eating fine and otherwise exhibits normal puffer behaviour. We usually feed him defrosted mysis shrimp and krill soaked in Lipovit.
Any advice and guidance would be much appreciated.
Thanks for all you help in the past.
Natalie
<This fish, all Canthigaster species do better in larger (volume) settings.
Bob Fenner>

Lighting Hello Robert, Thank you having such a great web site. I search it all the time. My name is Jim and I have a question (if you have time to answer it). I have an 80 gallon SW tank, with (among other things) 2 Sharpnose puffers (Canthigaster valentini and Canthigaster epilampra). I plan on keeping the puffers, so I won't be keeping too many inverts. I currently have about 60 lbs of live rock. <Okay> I want to upgrade my lighting. Right now I have 1 10K 40 watt, and 1 Actinic 30 watt bulb. The tank looks nice, but the lighting doesn't really show off the color of my fish very well. It would also be nice to be able to grow more coralline algae or maybe some Caulerpa algae. I wanted to upgrade to some power compact lights and have been looking at the custom Sealife smart light setup which has 2 x 65 watt bulbs. My concern is, if I do this will unwanted algae grow completely out of control? My nitrates are usually around 10ppm. <No problem with the extra light (are you adding the new (I would, or even about double it)> Do you have any other suggestions if my idea is not a good one? <Just to increase the illumination to about double what you state OR keep the old lighting plus the new... and to utilize live rock with macro algae with your Tobies/Sharpnose puffers... as they will really like this to eat, and the algae will really improve their color and health> Thank you, <Thank you my friend. Bob Fenner> Jim Moss

Valentini puffer Hi Bob, Anthony and Zo; <Hello! Ronni here standing in for our under the weather puffer expert.> I am thinking of getting a valentini puffer down the road.  I now have a couple of peaceful tanks, and my plan is to put this puffer into his own tank.  My question is twofold:  How large does this tank need to be?  My understanding is that he doesn't grow to more than 3 inches. <He could actually reach 4-5'. If he's by himself, a 30g tank would be fine. If you have any other fish in there a 55 would be better.> Second question:  Would it be cruel to put him by himself?  If so, could you recommend a couple of small fish to keep him company? <He's one of the Sharpnose puffers and should be OK with moderately aggressive to aggressive fish. I have one of the Sharpnose puffers (not the Valentini) and keep mine with a Strawberry Basslet, an Ocellaris Clown, a Yellow Tang, a Blue Damsel, and a 3-stripe Damsel. Mine is new to the tank but so far there have been no problems and I talked to several people who didn't foresee any problems with this mix (except possibly the clown, I'm prepared to move him if necessary). If you went with a 55g tank, I would get just one or two Damsels and maybe a Basslet. This way you'd have color and activity without overcrowding and stressing the puffer.> As always, thank you for your help. Connie <You're welcome! Ronni>

Valentini puffer injury from pump Hi, my puffer and I need help. I recent attached a new pump and Aqua C skimmer to my tank. Stupid me did not attach anything to the intake and this morn my Puffy was stuck in it. <Arggghh!> He sleeps by attaching his belly on something and apparently tried to take on nap on the pump. I'm not sure how long he was there was there but my husband and I turned it off and got him down. This was 12 hours ago and he is still alive. His belly is a mess. All distorted and crinkled. It does not appear to be an open wound and I see no blood i.e. internal bleeding that is apparent at least. A fin may have been injured or took away by the pump as well. He is not feeling good at all and not moving much at all. He is behind a net which he seems to like. This will protect him from the others. He is my first fish and very special. He even knows his name. water parameters are good. I do a 10% weekly and this was two days ago. He has made it through two bouts of ich last year and seems to be a fighter. His eyes are cloudy now and I've seen his eyes like this once before when he had ick last year. How can I help him. Please, I spent $ last year to save him from ick and I'll do what's necessary this time as well. I do not want him to suffer either. Please advise me how to help him. Thanks, Sharon <I appreciate your concern. About the only "things" to do are to provide a stable, optimized environment at this point... Try feeding this fish foods soaked in Selcon or equivalent and "keep the faith"... Puffers are very tough, resilient animals. I do hope yours rallies. Bob Fenner>