Tank Parameters: ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 10 -taken today.
Inhabitants - 4 Dwarf Puffers, 3 Amano Shrimp, 4 Khuli Loaches
Water change once a week - 10 gallons (35 uk gallon tank)
Feeding: alternate live/frozen food (today white worms grown by myself), brine shrimp, blood worms, daphnia, snails, frozen blood worms, frozen mosquito larvae (they decline everything else frozen). Half a pleco tab/couple of carnivorous wafers daily for Khuli’s, but they eat the live and frozen food too.
Water additives, Prime when changing water.
Filtration, a trickle filter with a Purigen pad, also a large sponge filter.
Tank was bought from a friend, cycled. It had been running for 6 years but he was giving up. I took it, rehomed the two really healthy fish, quarantined it for a fortnight after removing and cleaning the gravel and doing general maintenance. At that point water parameters were fine so I brought my puffs home. Rehomed one male, so now have two males two females.
Problem: my subservient male, known as Lonley, has been fine up to the last couple of weeks, he doesn’t look ill in any way but has slowly reduced his eating, and I suspect he may have a tooth problem. His mouth is slightly open and a tiny bit offset, he’s stopped eating anything but the smallest of morsels, he’s searching for food but then doesn’t eat. His belly’s hollow, Podgy Puff has started constantly chasing him (although they previously each had a territory and rarely clashed). Even the girls have been chasing him today, and he’s gone very very pale. They were wormed when I got them and all seemed fine afterwords.
Is a tooth problem likely and is a tooth trim possible on such a small fish? I could try but am afraid I would injure him. Alternatively if he’s just being bullied I could move him to another small tank where I have ten chilli rasboras quarantining. There is a small population of tadpole snails in there, some very tiny. I also feed them micro worms, which he might attempt to eat. The rasboras are going to go into my shrimp tank, I hope to move them next week.
Any suggestions?
Lonely Puff’s eating problem.
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.
- Pufferpunk
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Re: Lonely Puff’s eating problem.
My thoughts are that the dynamics of the tank has changed. Maybe the other puff you re-homed was the omega fish & now he is? I would move him to the rasbora tank & see if he is better there. As far as his teeth--DPs don't generally have dentistry issues.
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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- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 30
- Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2017 2:43 pm
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- My Puffers: 4 Dwarf Puffers
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Re: Lonely Puff’s eating problem.
I will take your advice. Thank you.
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- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Tue Nov 07, 2017 8:25 am
- Location (country): San Francisco, US
Re: Lonely Puff’s eating problem.
Have you tried mixing your food with garlic? Seems garlic can enhance their appetite. I tried crushing garlic in bloodworms with my newly bought DP which we’re afraid to eat at the beginning. Also tried Garlicguard for my GSP who didn’t like the mix of medicated food... all worked well...
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- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 30
- Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2017 2:43 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: 4 Dwarf Puffers
- Location (country): Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England
Re: Lonely Puff’s eating problem.
Didnt try because died overnight.
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- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Tue Nov 07, 2017 8:25 am
- Location (country): San Francisco, US
Re: Lonely Puff’s eating problem.
Sorry for the loss....