Is My Green Spotted Puffer Sick?

Green spotted puffers are among the most intelligent, playful tropical fish available to aquarists. However, these frisky fish come with one major drawback: they are notoriously sensitive to water conditions and relatively prone to disease. My green spotted puffer Matilda requires even more care and attention than my cats-- water changes, a carefully planned diet and a thirty-gallon brackish-water tank all to herself. Nevertheless, she still experiences occasional bouts of illness. Is your green spotted puffer sick? These guidelines can help you evaluate the situation.

Monitor your Green Spotted Puffer's Behavior

A puffer should never act sulky or lazy-- these feisty critters thrive on constant movement and activity. Sick green spotted puffers may lie on the bottom of the tank and appear listless and uninteractive. Like cats and dogs, puffers sometimes curl their tails agains their bodies as a defensive measure when they are asleep or not feeling well; a deep "U" shaped curve may indicate that the puffer is afraid or very ill. A healthy green spotted puffer should make eye contact, eagerly accept food and swim briskly around the tank. Inactive puffers may be ill, frightened, injured or overcrowded.

Note at your Green Spotted Puffer's Coloration

A healthy green spotted puffer fish has a neon-hued yellowish-green body with deep black spots and a white underbelly. Like chameleons, green spotted puffers change their colors to indicate their mood and health. Matilda tends to "turn off" her spots and make herself dull when she feels sick or when she's asleep, but she becomes blindingly bright when she is in a good mood or just chowed down on a snail. If you see consistently murky brownish-gray discoloration or a gray belly, there's a good chance that your green spotted puffer is sick.

Examine at your Green Spotted Puffer's Skin

Aside from color changes, a green spotted puffer's skin offers many other indications of overall health and wellbeing. Dozens of infections can affect the appearance of a puffer's skin, including flukes, ich, fin rot, fungal infections and bacterial diseases like tuberculosis. A sick green spotted puffer may have small white spots, cream-colored "fuzz", tattered fins, worm-like adhesions, reddish gills or patches of white growth. Seriously ill green spotted puffers may have several types of infection at once. The course of treatment will depend on the cause of the illness; unfortunately, some of these conditions are untreatable and ultimately fatal.

Look for a Chubby Belly

Almost all green spotted puffers are wild caught. Almost all of these fish have small, worm-like parasites that live in their digestive tracts. While not completely benign, these worms can exist in a puffer's body for years without causing any problem-- their effect on a pufferfish is similar to a tapeworm's effect on a cat. However, if your green spotted puffer is sick, underfed or fed inappropriately, these worms can cause serious problems. A puffer with severe intestinal parasites will have a thin belly that appears small even after she has eaten. Rail-thin green spotted puffers require deworming and extra food.

Treatment for a Sick Green Spotted Puffer

Dozens of problems can make a green spotted puffer sick, so the possible treatments vary tremendously. Parastic infections generally require treatment with specialized medicines, such as malachite green or ich formulas. Immaculate water conditions are essential for treating a sick green spotted puffer; aquarists should not allow nitrate levels to raise above 20 and should eliminate any detectable ammonia in the water. Sick green puffers should never be kept in fresh water-- they are obligate brackish-water fish. Consider raising the salinity and alkalinity of the aquarium, temporarily or permanently, to prevent and eliminate illnesses.

Molly Fish Color Varieties

While the black molly remains the most popular and inexpensive color variety of molly fish, dozens of other varieties also exist. Because mollies are prolific and robust, breeders and enthusiasts have popularized several beautiful color strains of this brackish-water fish. As a molly enthusiast, I've enjoyed watching and breeding the dozens of varieties of molly that appear on the market. The genetic variability and eager breeding habits of the molly make it an excellent choice for anyone who is interested in fish genetics. The following molly color varieties are among the most popular commercially available types.

Wild Type Molly

In the wild, mollies have a dull green-gray coloration; however, more colorful color strains sometimes appear sporadically in the wild. Wild mollies tend to be hardier than their cultivated counterparts.

Black Molly

The most popular molly color variety on the market, these beautiful onyx fish carry a mutation similar to the melanistic gene responsible for a black panther's coloration. It rarely occurs in the wild and it was the first unusual color strain to be cultivated in captivity.

Gold Molly

Yellow-orange mollies, sometimes sold as gold or creamsicle mollies, are among the most visually stunning varieties of this fish. Geneticists and molly breeders refer to this mutation as xanthochromism; it is seen in many other species including dozens of cyprinids.

Gold Dust Molly

The increasingly popular "gold dust" molly occurs as a result of interbreeding between black and gold mollies. Because the two alleles are codominant--they both express themselves on the same individual-- the fish are usually black with golden patches.

Silver Molly

White or silver mollies come in two varieties: albino and leucistic. Albino mollies have pinkish or red eyes, whereas leucistic molllies have normal-hued eyes. Both have a dazzling pearl-like coloration.

Marble Molly

Because many molly genes are codominant, several color varieties combine multiple hues on one fish. Marble mollies result when silver and block mollies interbreed; they may have a marbled or piebald appearance.

Dalmation Molly

There are few major differences between a marble molly and a dalmation molly, but most breeders consider a fish to be dalmation if it has significantly more white on its body than black. Like marble mollies, dalmation mollies result from interbreeding between black and white varieties.

Calico Molly

Rarely, black, white and gold mollies will interbreed to create offspring with all three colors. These are considered to be calico, tortoiseshell or tricolor mollies and I find them to be the most beautiful domestic strain available.

Other rare molly color varieties include the red molly and blue molly, which are not true mollies-- rather, they are the result of extensive cross-breeding with platies and swordtails. These varieties are rarely sold in pet stores, but some private breeders sell them via the internet.

10 Facts About Australian Rainbowfish

Australian rainbow fish are stunningly beautiful, so they are popular choices for stocking home aquariums. While some species of Australian rainbowfish are surprisingly hardy, others require carefully maintained water parameters and specialized care.

The most common Australian rainbowfish in the home aquarium include the Australian red-tailed rainbowfish, the dwarf rainbowfish and the threadfin rainbowfish.

Know these 10 interesting facts about Australian rainbowfish if you are interested in keeping them in your own fish tank.

1. Australian rainbowfish are closely related to the tropical marine rainbowfish that populate the saltwater ecosystems around Australia and Oceana. True freshwater fish are rare in Australia, and the fish have entered freshwater streams over hundreds of years.

2. In general, Australian rainbowfish do best when trace amounts of salt are added to the water. While they can survive in brackish-water ecosystems, high salt levels are not ideal.

3. Newly hatched Australian rainbowfish fry accept very fine grades of live food. Baby brine shrimp, artemia and daphnia are ideal.

4. Female Australian rainbowfish have shorter fins and duller coloration than males.

5. The tiny Australian rainbowfish Pseudomugil signatus remains guppy-sized throughout life, but teh red-tailed rainbowfish may grow to 4 inches or more.

6. Australian rainbowfish live primarily around North-Eastern coast of Australia, including the fresh and brackish-water streams of Queensland.

7. Because Australian rainbowfish are hardy and can survive a wide temperature range, they have the capacity to become a dangerous invasive species in the U.S. never-- ever--- release Australian rainbowfish or any other species into the wild.

8. Related freshwater species that are similar to Australian rainbowfish live in Madagascar, Mexico and Cuba.

9. The closest relatives of freshwater Australian rainbowfish populate the Great Barrier Reef. Saltwater species are generally larger than their inland cousins.

10. Ideal tankmates for Australian rainbowfish include mollies, guppies, swordtails and other salt-tolerant livebearers. Several species of gourami, barb and tetra can also thrive in a tank with Australian rainbowfish.