Green spotted puffer fish spinning.

Question
I do hope you are the one to ask this. A few days ago I was given a very small GSP. My friend who had him had bought him at walmart a couple weeks ago and kept him in a 2 gallon freshwater aquarium by himself. No water changes. He started swimming upside down and then started spinning. She was going to flush him since it was distressing her kids. I told her to give him to me. I have gradually gotten him into brackish water with live bacteria in his own 10 gallon tank. He was not eating well when I got him, but is eating now. I'm feeding him bloodworms dried and frozen. Baby shrimp and brine shrimp frozen. he has a bend and is still spinning although not quite as bad. He also has little black smudges all over his belly. I would really like to save this little guy. Is there anything else I can do for him? Does he need medication?

Answer
Dear Venetia,
A million cheers for saving the poor little Pufferfish!

Now for his current problems-
Sounds like the spinning could be a result of swim bladder problems as my best guess. Swim bladder troubled fish often have a very hard difficultly in maintaining their equilibium and cannot swim properly at all. This is often due to overfeeding or too much dry food that results in a digestive disorder that interferes with the swim bladder's normal function. Usually the best way to treat this is to fast a fish for at least 1-2 days to help clear out his system. For many fish, feeding a thawed and deshelled green pea can help clear any blockages but I'm not too sure if your puffer would go for that. Sounds like he may be trying to recover now and you might not want to give him any food for one day at least, although if you are sure he is improving a little each-day, the current diet you are feeding is likely fine and fasting may not be needed.

I've never heard about black smudges on a puffer's belly. I do know black marks can appear on the skin of a fish whose had ammonia burns. Not to say this is the exact cause but please make sure his water contains no ammonia or nitrite--if it does, then this only causes any current swim bladder problems to be even greater. Large water changes would definately be in order.

I don't think medications are neccessary right now. Just maintain good water quality. It's great you converted him over to brackish water. Far too many brackish fish are forced to live in freshwater that greatly shortens their lifespan and lowers their immunity. In particular, Green Spotted Puffer fish should ideally be kept in fully marine conditions as a full-grown fish.  And if cared for well in a marine enviroment, Green spotted puffers can easily live for 10 years or more!

I'm so sorry to hear how bad off the poor GSP is. I'm really glad you saved him from that terrible fate of being flushed. Feel free to let me know how he is doing from time to time and also feel free to write with anymore concerns...

Only my very best wishes to you and your pufferfish!
Karen~