DP has stopped eating

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
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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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TikiBird
Puffer Fry
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2016 4:20 pm
Location (country): Northern California, USA

DP has stopped eating

Post by TikiBird »

Hello all,

I am new here, and sadly I've joined under upsetting circumstances....

My captive bred DP has always been a voracious eater. I have had him for four months. He especially loves his frozen bloodworms, although he does also eat snails. The last week, he hasn't been interested in eating and he is now very skinny.

He has nibbled at some snails and some bloodworms but doesn't actually seem to be eating them.

He also seems weaker. The tank has always had a mild current and it never bothered him before, but now he's getting pushed around by even the small current.

He is in a 5.5 gallon tank with a few red cherry shrimp, which he doesn't seem to have any interest in. Temp is 80.

The odd thing is that this tank has always showed no nitrates. (It's been set up since March.) Readings are always 0/0/0. There are some live plants. I always just assumed since he was so tiny and there are plants, his nitrates wouldn't show up but maybe that's wrong.

Did a 50% water change today. (I do a WC every week.) He came out of hiding and was acting interested in me again, so that was nice! I soaked some defrosted bloodworms in garlic and he attacked them but then didn't actually eat them. :(

Any thoughts on how I can help my poor guy? What could be wrong to make him stop eating?

Thank you all...
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Pufferpunk
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Gender: Female
My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
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2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
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Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
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Re: DP has stopped eating

Post by Pufferpunk »

Mine were spoiled & only ate live worms.
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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pokeystar
Figure 8 Puffer
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Re: DP has stopped eating

Post by pokeystar »

Could it be an obstruction in the digestive track? A small stone or piece of wood?
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TikiBird
Puffer Fry
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Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2016 4:20 pm
Location (country): Northern California, USA

Re: DP has stopped eating

Post by TikiBird »

pokeystar wrote:Could it be an obstruction in the digestive track? A small stone or piece of wood?
It's possible--there was spider wood in the tank.

Is there anything I could do to help if that was the case?
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pokeystar
Figure 8 Puffer
Posts: 103
Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2016 4:41 am
My Puffers: Fahaka aka Mr Big Puff
2 GSP Pickle and Noodle
My children name the fish
Location (country): Ireland

Re: DP has stopped eating

Post by pokeystar »

If so sadly I don't think so. I lost a dragon go by that way once. I would check everything else. My fahaka stopped eating with internal parasites he would attack food then withdraw like his mouth/throat hurt.
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TikiBird
Puffer Fry
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2016 4:20 pm
Location (country): Northern California, USA

Re: DP has stopped eating

Post by TikiBird »

pokeystar wrote:If so sadly I don't think so. I lost a dragon go by that way once. I would check everything else. My fahaka stopped eating with internal parasites he would attack food then withdraw like his mouth/throat hurt.
Do you think it would hurt to treat for internal parasites? What's the best IP med to use for puffers?
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TikiBird
Puffer Fry
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2016 4:20 pm
Location (country): Northern California, USA

Re: DP has stopped eating

Post by TikiBird »

Pufferpunk wrote:Mine were spoiled & only ate live worms.
Heading to the LFS tomorrow to hopefully get some live worms.

The only other odd thing I noticed about him tonight is that for the first time I saw he had a poop dangling from a stringy bit. Does this give any clues?
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pokeystar
Figure 8 Puffer
Posts: 103
Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2016 4:41 am
My Puffers: Fahaka aka Mr Big Puff
2 GSP Pickle and Noodle
My children name the fish
Location (country): Ireland

Re: DP has stopped eating

Post by pokeystar »

IP treatment won't hurt. You will need him to eat something soaked in meds.
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User avatar
Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32773
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:
Contact Pufferpunk

Re: DP has stopped eating

Post by Pufferpunk »

http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/lib ... treatment/
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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