Advice needed for a Lumpy bellied Puffer!!
Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 7:31 am
I have a figure 8 puffer, alone in a 20 gallon tank.
He was bought from a local fish store about 2 years ago, as a fresh water fish but I gently introduced brackish water whilst doing water changes.
We are having some building work done in our home, so I needed to move the tank, so rather than stressing him out by moving him from one tank to another, whilst doing my water change we decided to move the entire tank, whilst if was only half full, which went very well, ( although rather heavy!) without any hiccups!
Once moved and the water change completed, in its new location, my puffer was swimming around happily, coming to the front of the tank to greet anyone who passed.
I was so happy with my little fella coping so well with the move that a few days later I decided to reward him with some live blood worms, (as he normally has frozen), which he guzzled down.
However the next day I noticed that his belly had strange lumps in (and I apologise for my crudeness) his anus seemed rather noticeably open.
This is not just the normal big belly after food, but almost looks like 3 small pea size lumps, not see though or coloured, just normal colour.
I have attached pics to try to show them.
I read up on you site and thought that maybe he is constipated, so I added some aquarium salt to his tank....
1 tbls for each 5 gallons of brackish water
That was 2 days ago now and he doesn't seem to have changed, still 3 large lumps in his belly and although he isnt eating the food I offer him,
He is still swimming around as normal and coming to say hello every time I walk up to tank.
So here are my questions if any one can help,
could it be caused by the stress of the move or is it more lightly constipation?
If so how long should it take for the salt to..... relieve him?!
Should I just keep adding the aquarium salt to the water once a week whilst I do my water changes until the lumps go?
Or is there something else I should try?
As I said hes not eating now either, how long will he be able to survive without food?
Is there a chance it could be internal parasites? if so is there a product anyone would recommend in the UK,
Im struggling to find one on the uk market.
Other info I thought you might want to know is,
normal diet of frozen bloodworms, snails and cockles in shells.
Ph is 7.5
Ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate between 0 and 2.5 ( it wasn't white but a slight pink tone to it)
water salinity 1.005
water temp 24.5
I am sorry to bombard everyone with questions,
but we have become very fond of the little fella, so any help anyone could offer would be much appreciated!!
He was bought from a local fish store about 2 years ago, as a fresh water fish but I gently introduced brackish water whilst doing water changes.
We are having some building work done in our home, so I needed to move the tank, so rather than stressing him out by moving him from one tank to another, whilst doing my water change we decided to move the entire tank, whilst if was only half full, which went very well, ( although rather heavy!) without any hiccups!
Once moved and the water change completed, in its new location, my puffer was swimming around happily, coming to the front of the tank to greet anyone who passed.
I was so happy with my little fella coping so well with the move that a few days later I decided to reward him with some live blood worms, (as he normally has frozen), which he guzzled down.
However the next day I noticed that his belly had strange lumps in (and I apologise for my crudeness) his anus seemed rather noticeably open.
This is not just the normal big belly after food, but almost looks like 3 small pea size lumps, not see though or coloured, just normal colour.
I have attached pics to try to show them.
I read up on you site and thought that maybe he is constipated, so I added some aquarium salt to his tank....
1 tbls for each 5 gallons of brackish water
That was 2 days ago now and he doesn't seem to have changed, still 3 large lumps in his belly and although he isnt eating the food I offer him,
He is still swimming around as normal and coming to say hello every time I walk up to tank.
So here are my questions if any one can help,
could it be caused by the stress of the move or is it more lightly constipation?
If so how long should it take for the salt to..... relieve him?!
Should I just keep adding the aquarium salt to the water once a week whilst I do my water changes until the lumps go?
Or is there something else I should try?
As I said hes not eating now either, how long will he be able to survive without food?
Is there a chance it could be internal parasites? if so is there a product anyone would recommend in the UK,
Im struggling to find one on the uk market.
Other info I thought you might want to know is,
normal diet of frozen bloodworms, snails and cockles in shells.
Ph is 7.5
Ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate between 0 and 2.5 ( it wasn't white but a slight pink tone to it)
water salinity 1.005
water temp 24.5
I am sorry to bombard everyone with questions,
but we have become very fond of the little fella, so any help anyone could offer would be much appreciated!!