burr puffer not eating

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Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.

We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.

While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.

Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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loranth
Puffer Fry
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Joined: Thu Oct 16, 2014 10:16 am
Location (country): USA

burr puffer not eating

Post by loranth »

please help...my burr puffer stopped eating a week ago; however, appetite has been decreasing for the past 6-7weeks (typically eats silversides/krill/shrimp/clam/pro-v
his mouth is now wide open
nothing visible externally except now some fin rot appeared after second dipping
dipped 2X in RO water & melafix
did notice a stream of small white patches from rectum

350 gallon tank, set-up for 17years
inhabitants: burr puffer, dogface puffer, squirrel, french angel, blue face angel, red sea sailfin tang, powder blue tang, lionfish, snowflake eel (all been in tank at least 3years up to 14years)
ph = 7.9
nitrates ~17
salinity ~1.023
water changes weekly between 40-50%
Last edited by loranth on Thu Oct 16, 2014 7:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Pufferpunk
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C valentini
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Also kept:
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Re: burr puffer not eating

Post by Pufferpunk »

Please answer ALL the questions above, in red.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
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bertie 83
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My Puffers: lineatus R.I.P, South American puffer. Valentini puffer, porcupine puffer.
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Harlequins, CAE's, Yoyo
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Location: brighton , england

Re: burr puffer not eating

Post by bertie 83 »

What have you been feeding him? All questions in red need answering as pp stated
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
loranth
Puffer Fry
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Joined: Thu Oct 16, 2014 10:16 am
Location (country): USA

Re: burr puffer not eating

Post by loranth »

eats silversides/krill/clam/pro-v/frozen "people" shrimp
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bertie 83
Moderator
Posts: 5298
Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2011 4:28 pm
Gender: Male
My Puffers: lineatus R.I.P, South American puffer. Valentini puffer, porcupine puffer.
Non puffer
Danios, Tetras, Redtail Rasporas,
Harlequins, CAE's, Yoyo
Loaches, Clown loaches ,Eels, various shrimp, tangs,wrasses, damsels, chromis
Location (country): Brighton, England
Location: brighton , england

Re: burr puffer not eating

Post by bertie 83 »

Is he just eating the krill? It has links to lockjaw, stop adding it straight off. I am not very tech savvy ( posting links is a mystery to me) but if you search the forum for lockjaw you will find what you need to do, you may need to force feed him for a while so he can keep his strength up to overcome this. Good luck
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
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Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32764
Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles
Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
Location: Chicago
Contact:

Re: burr puffer not eating

Post by Pufferpunk »

Still need a LOT more answers from you to narrow down the possibilities.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
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Welch4
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Re: burr puffer not eating

Post by Welch4 »

You have listed the foods. But how much are you feeding on what schedule. Do you soak the foods at all and if so what are you using. Have there been any decor/equipemt changes? What are you using for addtives and have yoy added anything new to the lineup recently?
Forget other advice about puffers you don't hear here - Pufferpunk
User avatar
Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32764
Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles
Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
Location: Chicago
Contact:

Re: burr puffer not eating

Post by Pufferpunk »

Possible lionfish sting?
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
loranth
Puffer Fry
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Oct 16, 2014 10:16 am
Location (country): USA

Re: burr puffer not eating

Post by loranth »

Notice white stream of feces...also contains small disc shapes in feces.
Since no change from melafix dip am now trying Kana Plex; however, considering PraziPro since I'm wondering if he has IP.
All other fish in tank acting and eating normally.
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