Hi All
So a little bit ago I had some pretty bad DP squabbling resulting in one of my DPs getting bitten pretty bad. I took her out and put her in a 5 gallon alone (except for 3 rili shrimp and some MTS). She has lost a lot of weight! At first I thought it was stress related but now I'm not sure. She eats fine and I've taken to feeding her twice a day instead of once but no weight gain. I treated all my puffers for parasites about a month ago (just as a precaution I treat them every few months with oral meds I soak their food in) so I don't think thats the issue. She acts normal, eats everything I give her and even hunts the snails (lucky for the shrimp she isn't interested in them. I was willing to lose them if I had to but their tank was the only cycled one I had available when I had to move her)
Could this be aging? She is probably 2-3 years old but I thought DPs lived longer then that. I'm open to suggestions I'm out of ideas as to what to do for her.
http://i.imgur.com/bg0yhjt.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/u2BZkwJ.jpg
Sorry, heres the answers to the section in red
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity PH - 7.8, Ammonia - 0 , nitrite 0, nitrate <20
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. - 5 gallon with 3 red rili shrimp and an unknown number of trumpet snails and 1 DP
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank- Feeding now 2x day bloodworms or mysis shrimp, water change about 30 percent every 2 weeks, fluval water conditioner
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. - none
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? - 2 years
DP wasting away
Forum rules
Read this before posting!!
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.
Read this before posting!!
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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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32776
- 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: DP wasting away
She does look quite skinny! If she's eating, I'd definitely treat for IPs.
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!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
-
pollypuff
- Dwarf Puffer
- Posts: 73
- Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2015 1:11 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: 2 c. travancoricus - Phat Ted and Regular Size Rudy
1 c. lorteti - Schmendrick the Magician
~RIP Large Marge~ - Location (country): Canada
Re: DP wasting away
Thanks - I started another round of meds but she looks so awful its breaking my heart 
-
pollypuff
- Dwarf Puffer
- Posts: 73
- Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2015 1:11 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: 2 c. travancoricus - Phat Ted and Regular Size Rudy
1 c. lorteti - Schmendrick the Magician
~RIP Large Marge~ - Location (country): Canada
Re: DP wasting away
Well my little puffer passed away. Last night she was doing ok, she had one meal of live brine shrimp in the morning, I saw her eat a snail that afternoon, and I fed her some mysis shrimp. I left for dinner and 2 hours later came home and she was gone.
-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32776
- 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: DP wasting away
So sorry... 
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!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"