Puffers sick.. Odd symptoms..

[Socrates]

I have a figure 8 puffer... A couple days ago, I noticed that he wasn't using his left fin sometimes and was slowly bumping into things. Today he's been vertical with his tail pointing straight up. At one point he was even resting his tail against an object just to keep it down. Now he's mostly swimming in a normal position, but rarely using his side fins (Although he does use his small tail fins.) and still goes vertical from time to time and spends all his time at the top of the water... I woke up tonight to check on him and found him sucked against the water filter and figured he was dead. I went to get the net and when I came back, he was swimming around again with the same problems. And it's hard to tell, but he may be getting a slight film over his eyes... Even as I'm typing this, I feel so bad because he keeps coming over to look at me like he's asking for help. (I know, I know) I've called multiple pet stores and no one seems to have an idea.

The tank is just over a month old. It's freshwater, but I have salt added. Ammonia levels are a bit high. (And I know that's not good.) Temp is 75. He's fed bloodworms, but stopped eating so much a couple days ago. I was feeding the whole cube each day. No change in his coloration since I bought him.

Any help is appreciated. I'll check back in the morning.

[DesignsOnYou]

Depending on how high the ammonia is, you might want to do a water change to get the levels down. It might slow down your cycle (if it's still cycling) but it might help keep him alive. People on here have told me that if ammonia or nitrites are over 1.0, you probably want to do a partial water change to get it down below that number.

[Bl33dy]

may also not be enough salt to satisfy him

[Kissyboots]

I'm by no means an expert, but aren't figure 8's salt water or brackish or something? Just adding salt isn't going to do it, I would think. Ask F8fan, she should know.

[roark fishies]

Definately do a water change to get that ammonia down. How high is it? I think that's the first thing to worry about. If you're tank has only been set up for one month it may not have finished it's cycle. That means you have a lot of water changes in your future to keep your little fella alive.

[Pure]

Puffers do NOT tolerate ammonia or nitrite so they are not a good fish to put in a cycling tank. They rarely live through it. Doing some fast water changes might help but don't get discouraged if he doesn't make it. He probably won't. Just cycle the tank without fish in it and try again.

Adding salt is useless if it isn't marine salt. "aquarium salt" doesn't have the trace minerals needed to support brackish fish.

You need to go out and invest in a hydrometer and some marine salt. Then do your research on brackish fish and their habitats.