pH 7.5, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate all zero or the lowest colour possible on the api test kit
35g and the only thing in the tank
so i recently purchased a humpback puffer from craiglist and for the last two nights there have been chunks of super worm floating at the top of the tank in the morning
yesterday it at a pill bug i dropped in the tank and that was not regurgitated, only the super worms.
I haven't fed it any super worms since aquiring him, only the previous owner a few hours before i picked him up. (which is now about 48 hours ago)
Should I be concerned? He seems healthy other wise... he ventures in and out of his cave from time to time but I haven't tried feeding him anything else besides the pill bug.
Humpback puffer regurgitating
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
- 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:
Re: Humpback puffer regurgitating
Super worms (giant mealworms) are extremely difficult to digest, because of their hard outer shell (chiton). Try Epsom salt (1 tbsp/10g) to help with constipation & stick with foods from this list: library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/
Great find, BTW!
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!"
Re: Humpback puffer regurgitating
thanks for the reply! will toss out the remaining superworms the seller gave me.
** just checked his post again today he's now giving the rest of his tank away for free!!!!
17 inch arowana and 2 green terrors. man if i had the room. he's dismantling a 180g which did house my humpback, the 3 guys above and a gold gourami. i still did get my fish for a 1/4 of the LFS price soooo i shouldn't be complaining lol
** just checked his post again today he's now giving the rest of his tank away for free!!!!
17 inch arowana and 2 green terrors. man if i had the room. he's dismantling a 180g which did house my humpback, the 3 guys above and a gold gourami. i still did get my fish for a 1/4 of the LFS price soooo i shouldn't be complaining lol
- 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:
Re: Humpback puffer regurgitating
I'm very surprised your puffer didn't tear those other fish to shreds.
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!"
Re: Humpback puffer regurgitating
yeah i asked him and he said no aggressiveness shown in the 3 months he had him! my dp's on the other hand lol that's another story
Re: Humpback puffer regurgitating
didn't want to start a new topic but i notice now whenever i feed my puffer crayfish it'll scarf it down and there will be nothing left in the tank but then the next morning i see chewed up shell fragments all over the substrate, is this just the same issue as with the super worms? is it normal puffer behaviour or should i stop feeding them anything they seem to barf back up?
- 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:
Re: Humpback puffer regurgitating
I see that a lot with my big Pignose. Possibly getting rid of undigestable shells?
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!"
Re: Humpback puffer regurgitating
oh good, so normal behaviour? nothing too concerning. thanks!