Aquarium info:
180g, 2 dogface & 1 stars/stripes puffer
ph 8.0, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrates 20, Salinity 1.022, Temp 81
Water changes weekly, water is RO/DI water with Instant Ocean & marine buffer added
Feeding frozen krill, clams on half shell, chopped clams, chopped squid
Aquarium has been set up for 10 years, 1 dogface 10 years old, 1 dogface 7 years old, stars/stripes 4 years old
Our 7 year old dogface puffer has not eaten for the past week, he also looks quite bloated and is not swimming extremely well - likes to sit on the bottom of the tank. After we returned from a day away for Thanksgiving it appeared the stars/stripes puffer(the largest) had been aggressive to his tankmates as they all had bite marks. We attributed his behavior to this and re-arranged the tank. We have also been making more frequent water changes since then. Today his breathing is more labored and his color is getting dark. The other two puffers are feeding regularly and aren't in any distress. Constipation? Stress? Parasites?
Thanks for any ideas.
Dogface not eating
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.
Dogface not eating
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Welch4
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 698
- Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:22 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: 1 GSP
- Location (country): USA
- Location: Abington,MA
Re: Dogface not eating
With how bloated it is I would definitely say constipation.I would wait for confirmation from another member on this but I would recommend Epsom salts. With it being that large of a tank I would recommend a quartentine and dosing the qt tank with Epsom. While in the qt it would hurt to treat for internal parasites as well.
Forget other advice about puffers you don't hear here - Pufferpunk
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Welch4
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 698
- Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:22 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: 1 GSP
- Location (country): USA
- Location: Abington,MA
Re: Dogface not eating
Just pulled the reccomend dosage of another post by PP 1tbsp of Epsom salt per 10g. Wouldn't hurt to do a water change puffers are very sensitive to water quality try to get you nirates sub 10ppm
Forget other advice about puffers you don't hear here - Pufferpunk
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bertie 83
- Moderator
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- My Puffers: lineatus R.I.P, South American puffer. Valentini puffer, porcupine puffer.
Non puffer
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Harlequins, CAE's, Yoyo
Loaches, Clown loaches ,Eels, various shrimp, tangs,wrasses, damsels, chromis - Location (country): Brighton, England
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Re: Dogface not eating
Yes looks like he is backed up, add Epsom salt as stated above
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
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Also kept:
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Re: Dogface not eating
Yeah, that's for FW, for SW it's 1 tbsp/5g.Welch4 wrote:Just pulled the reccomend dosage of another post by PP 1tbsp of Epsom salt per 10g. Wouldn't hurt to do a water change puffers are very sensitive to water quality try to get you nirates sub 10ppm
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!"
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Welch4
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 698
- Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:22 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: 1 GSP
- Location (country): USA
- Location: Abington,MA
Re: Dogface not eating
PP for the save as always
Forget other advice about puffers you don't hear here - Pufferpunk