My Green Spotted Puffer Is Swimming With His Body/Tail Down

He usually doesn't swim this way, he's either pacing up and down the tank or swimming normally. He doesn't show any sign of stress ie. black stomach. This is just unusal for him. Could he be liking the current of the filter and just be wading with it? I fed him earlier and he has a belly but i only fed him a tiny bit of plankton, which is his usual diet. I changed the water yesterday sinse i was getting brown spots in the sand. The hydrometer says the salt water is at 1.021, brackish water. So could he be sick, or just having fun?

 

As far as filter goes, i'm not sure what kind it is, because it came with the tank, but i use large size bio-bags for the filter cartridges. And i know nothing about the water parimeters. I've never had a salt water tank in my life so i'm new to all this.

But he seems to be back to his old self today,so i'm assuming he was just playing playing with the current of the filter.

 

oh and tank size is 20 gal, he's all by himself and temp is between 78-82 since i researched puffers and the like warm water

 

i've had this tank set up maybe for 6 months now first a freshwater, and now i guess it's considered a salt water tank

 

If i take a sample of the water to the petstore should they be able to test all of that for me

 

ok, i'll get that done later today. Are Saltwater tanks somewhat easy to take care of? I want to get real plants for his tank, but i have no clue what would work for a puffer. And i still want to make his tank a more natural theme. So by chance would you have any idea what might work to put in his tank?

 

kk i'll probably have to stick with plastic plants, and maybe rock type stuff that i can setup that i've seen at the petstore. All because i wouldn't be able to afford corals and inverts as much as i really want a true salt water tank.

 

you could get brackish water/salt specific plants such as black needle rush or aspartine grasses, the only thing about plants and salt water tanks is that in the wild the plants work off the tide, so in a tank I am going to guess that the aspartine grass would do the best as the black needle rush is usually only inundated twice a day at high tide.

 

Ok, i'll be heading to the petstore shortly so i'll see if they have any

 

You probably wont find the plants I mentioned in the store, they are marsh plants. Where are you located? I could probably get you some and mail it to you.

Nm just reread your post and saw Orange County, the plants may survive the trip, let me know if your interested. They would be from the wild and may contain parasites/stragglers, just to warn you, but I would try to get it from the least polluted area.

 

Yea, i got my water tested and apparently everything was fine, but then again, this is petco, so i don't know if i should trust them. But he's been fine ever since. And i also got him a new setup, too.

 

You probably wont find the plants I mentioned in the store, they are marsh plants. Where are you located? I could probably get you some and mail it to you.

Thank you for your offer. I think i'll just stick with fake plants, as much as i want to get real plants, i just think i won't have any clue on how to take care of them and keep them alive.