Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So I had a fresh water tank I converted to brackish water. I bought one Figure 8 puffer and after about 3 or so months he died. He had little red spots on his belly. I checked the ammonia in the water and it was fine. I checked the other qualities of the water and they were good. He was the only fish in the tank other than a small feeder guppy and a goldfish.

and so.. I bought two new Figure 8's and added them to my fully set up 40 gallon tank. I have 2 40gal filters in there; both on. My water quality is good, the temp is good and the salt lv. is perfect.. My tank is also not over stocked.

I don't know why they keep dying. Both of my puffers were not bit up from the other puffer. The second one who died today did not have any red spots on him. He did however have a spot or patch of lighter skin(It was not ick and didn't look painful. I didn't see it till he was dead) near his face/gills. I don't know what to do.

SOMEONE HELP PLEASE?!

Also I have no idea if this has anything to do with it but I fed them both one earth worm the night before he died. The diet they are on - Ghost shrimp(live and frozen,) snails and clams. Also the night before I saw the smaller one trying to nip him while feeding time. However she didn't really cause any damage at all.

Random question but is smoking in the room with the aquarium ok or frowned upon and bad for the fish?


the larger one in the back died.
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There are a few possibilities...

1) Your first fish could have been being nipped on once he died by the other 2 fish... which would cause the red spots. Otherwise, I'm not positive what happened there.

2) It is possible that your fish are dying because the pet/fish store houses their puffers in freshwater, and then you are putting them in brackish water without acclimating them.

3) The lighter patch of skin could have been a fungal infection? Not sure.

It is possible that the worm had bacteria that affected the one fish, but unless the fish was already susceptible to infections (stress or already sick) it should have been fine. Since you mentioned that the little one was being picked on, I'm assuming that's the one that died... could have been a combination of the stress from being picked on and a fungal infection/bacteria infection be that from the pet store or from the worm or just general bacteria in the tank.

I don't think your fish are dying of nicotine poisoning, but I'm sure small amounts are being absorbed into your tank.

How much are you changing when you change your water? If you are changing more than 20% every 2 weeks (or 10% every week) it could be an issue with the beneficial bacteria.

Hope this helps.