Today, I noticed that my fish ball wrapped around his tail (around his face) and was on the floor of the tank. I also noticed that near the stomach which he sees as something of a gray-black-aroun outline the bottom of things (where does the green). I am on this-its in the tank with two goldfish (a rectangle 10. Gallons again).
They get discolored and they don’t really do much. They kind of just float around at the bottom.
Anytime there is something weird going on with a fish, you should test for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. I have seen this before in puffers. From what I can tell they change their color with their mood.
Puffers often sleep (rest) with their tails curled around them. That doesn’t seem to be the problem. What kind of puffer is it? The color change indicates he is stressed.
Stress can play a large part in your fish’s health. Tank set-up and maintenance are the first parts of eliminating stress. Water quality is very important for puffers. They’re scaleless fish and can be sensitive to poor water quality, so careful monitoring is a must. Steady pH and temperature are also very important. Puffers need places to hide. They’re not completely nocturnal, but they do prefer the late afternoon and evening hours to daytime, and they like to have places to hide during the day. Broad-leaved plants, slate or rock caves, and driftwood are good decorations for a puffer tank. They prefer a fine substrate, such as small gravel and sand, or a mixture of both. Adequate filtration and water movement are also needed. However, they do not like strong currents. The second part of creating a stress-free environment is choosing tank mates with care. This, or course, will depend on what species you decide on. Matching water parameters is only the first part – aggression level and size must also be compatible
keeping a puffer healthy and happy is feeding the correct foods. Puffers are carnivores. They will not eat plant matter, and will rarely accept processed foods (flakes, pellets, freeze-dried foods). Even if you do find the rare puffer that does nibble at these, they do not provide the correct nutrients for the puffer. A varied diet of live or frozen foods such as bloodworms, earthworms, ghost shrimp, uncooked “people” shrimp, clams, mussels, oysters, silver sides, crab, squid, brine shrimp, and snails is a vital part of keeping your puffer healthy.
You mention that you have 2 gold fish in the same tank. While goldfish aren’t prone to attack other fish room in the tank is important for all three of your fish. Even dwarf puffers need 5 gallons of water each. Your goldfish need at least that each. If your puffer is feeling stressed it is only a matter of time before he takes matters into his own hands either by killing off your goldfish or worse poisoning the entire tank.
What temperature do you have your tank set at? above 70 is too warm for goldfish and below 77 is too cold for your puffer. to say the least, this is not a good match up.
Test your water to ensure the ammonia isn’t spikeing. I would really consider moving one of the two out of the tank to new housing.