Water parameters are based from the current hyposalinity setup in a separate hospital tank, I’m currently bringing the salinity up*
1: water parameters
Ph:8.0
Salinity: 1.014
Ammonia:0.50, Nitrite: 1, Nitrate: 20
2: 20 gallon (I understand I should have opted for a bigger tank but this is what I had to setup for a hospital at the time, this fish is about 3.5 inches) Inhabitants: Porcupine Fish
3: Food: Squid, Snails, Clams, Cuttle Fish, Octopus, Shrimp (typically dosed with Vita Chem)
Waterchanges: occurring daily since 1/24/2021 due to Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate spike.
6. Starting to raise salinity from hypo due to complications, I am not sure if it was the right thing to do , but the fish is starting to act a little better.
5:The aquarium has been running for a few weeks, salinity was lowered to hypo conditions Saturday Jan. 16 , as of Jan 23 I started raising the salinity back to saltwater conditions due to complications.
*If I missed anything or have any advice to help improve my care please let me know!*
As the title of this forum post suggests, my fish seems to be interested in the food, chews it up a bit but then ultimately spits it out and starts frantically swimming around the aquarium for a few seconds. I don’t believe it is a teeth issue as I actually cannot physically see the fish’s teeth and there doesn’t seem to be any obstruction. I then thought it could maybe be lockjaw but the fact the fish was able to chew the food up a bit and is able seemingly open/ close its mouth led me to think that was not the case. I’m suspecting it may have something to do with the current state of the water quality. As seen from my initial answers my water quality took a major turn and I believe it’s because the beneficial bacteria may have crashed. The first few days of hypo were going so well and then everything seemed to crashs. I have tried feeding clams, shrimp and the fish’s favorite , squid but the same outcome occurs each time. I do believe the fish is still quite stressed due to what is occurring with the water , one day the fish barely moved but now it seems to be looking a bit better after raising the salinity. When the initial spike happened my Nitrites were at 3 and my ammonia was about 4.0 which was terribly shocking to me (sorry to go off topic). The fish hasn’t eaten for about 2.5 days and was eating great before, is this all due to stress due to the current situation or could something else be in play. Thank you all for the advice.
Porcupine Fish seems to be interested in food but eventually spits out and starts swimming frantically around the tank.
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.
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Nickdavey126
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Pufferpunk
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Re: Porcupine Fish seems to be interested in food but eventually spits out and starts swimming frantically around the ta
I probably wouldn't have much of an appetite if I was being poisoned by my own waste. I would drip-acclimate back to SW & add established media or live rock to get rid of the toxins. You're treating for Crypt, right?
https://hikariusa.com/water_quality_fol ... _x_sw.html
https://hikariusa.com/water_quality_fol ... _x_sw.html
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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Nickdavey126
- Puffer Fry
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- Joined: Tue May 22, 2018 5:49 am
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Re: Porcupine Fish seems to be interested in food but eventually spits out and starts swimming frantically around the ta
You are exactly right, I would not have an appetite either. I ended up getting the little one to feed on some clams (which is odd considering it had no interest in them before). I ended up drip acclimating it for about 4 hours so I could add it to an established aquarium. As of now it is doing quite well, I can get it to eat clams but it seems to have no interest in other food items, but it is a start ! Also thank you for the link ! I brought the Hospital tank back up to saltwater and will continue to cycle it in case the crypt shows up again, I haven’t seen any signs of it for quite sometime now , but I understand how tricky it can be and I expect it to reappear. Once again, thank you !
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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: Porcupine Fish seems to be interested in food but eventually spits out and starts swimming frantically around the ta
So happy to hear he's doing better & eating something!
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!"