Force Feeding
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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StormySkiez
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 679
- Joined: Sun Nov 11, 2007 9:00 am
- My Puffers: 55G 2- 1 3/4 inch GSP's ~Bud AKA Jaws and Puff~
- Location: USA~TN
Re: Force Feeding
Good news! I hope he gets completly well soon!
55g-2 green spotted puffers 1 year old Nov 08!
20g-5 leopard danio,4 whiteskirt tetras, amanos, nerita snails, 2 neon tetras
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PufferPuck30
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Mon Nov 19, 2007 11:34 pm
Re: Force Feeding
You and me, both!StormySkiez wrote:Good news! I hope he gets completly well soon!
He's not out of the woods yet, though. He's still VERY skinny. He took very little of the food I force fed him, spitting most of it out. And the process was not enjoyable for him, as you might have guessed.
He's been sullen, twitchy and snarky ever since. His color is pretty awful, and his skin is all pebbly and rough - rather like he has goose bumps.
I'd love to give him another "bath" in aquarium salt, epsom salt, and Prazi-Pro because he seems to be fighting off some form of parasite, (whether internal or external is not clear).
Anyone care to hazard a guess as to whether or not it would benefit him? I don't want to stress him any more today....
He was VERY resentful of the feeding.
One Tough Fish...
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StormySkiez
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 679
- Joined: Sun Nov 11, 2007 9:00 am
- My Puffers: 55G 2- 1 3/4 inch GSP's ~Bud AKA Jaws and Puff~
- Location: USA~TN
Re: Force Feeding
I'm sorry I may have missed something as I caught your posts when you were dealing with... I believe with the move of your puffer into a larger tank and the bio spira not completly cycling the tank. No problems until the move into new larger tank?
The stress of just that alone perhaps has brought something else on. From what I have read, stress and bad water quality can bring on a whole host of issues
.
I'm sorry I do not know the answer to your question. Although I do know you are correct in not adding more stress to your puffer with treatments that will not help.
Is the vets an option at all in your puffers case? I do not know if it is an option for anyone. I'm 2 months into fish keeping and do not know if the vets can help treat fish. You have spent a lot of money on him and care for him so much that perhaps the vets would be the next best thing to get him through this.
The stress of just that alone perhaps has brought something else on. From what I have read, stress and bad water quality can bring on a whole host of issues
.I'm sorry I do not know the answer to your question. Although I do know you are correct in not adding more stress to your puffer with treatments that will not help.
Is the vets an option at all in your puffers case? I do not know if it is an option for anyone. I'm 2 months into fish keeping and do not know if the vets can help treat fish. You have spent a lot of money on him and care for him so much that perhaps the vets would be the next best thing to get him through this.
55g-2 green spotted puffers 1 year old Nov 08!
20g-5 leopard danio,4 whiteskirt tetras, amanos, nerita snails, 2 neon tetras
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PufferPuck30
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Mon Nov 19, 2007 11:34 pm
Re: Force Feeding
Too late....StormySkiez wrote:I'm sorry I may have missed something as I caught your posts when you were dealing with... I believe with the move of your puffer into a larger tank and the bio spira not completly cycling the tank. No problems until the move into new larger tank?
The stress of just that alone perhaps has brought something else on. From what I have read, stress and bad water quality can bring on a whole host of issues
I'm sorry I do not know the answer to your question. Although I do know you are correct in not adding more stress to your puffer with treatments that will not help.
Is the vets an option at all in your puffers case? I do not know if it is an option for anyone. I'm 2 months into fish keeping and do not know if the vets can help treat fish. You have spent a lot of money on him and care for him so much that perhaps the vets would be the next best thing to get him through this.
I lost him last night.
I tried. I really, really tried....
One Tough Fish...
-
StormySkiez
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 679
- Joined: Sun Nov 11, 2007 9:00 am
- My Puffers: 55G 2- 1 3/4 inch GSP's ~Bud AKA Jaws and Puff~
- Location: USA~TN
Re: Force Feeding
I'm so sorry...You did everything you could.PufferPuck30 wrote:
Too late....
I lost him last night.
I tried. I really, really tried....
55g-2 green spotted puffers 1 year old Nov 08!
20g-5 leopard danio,4 whiteskirt tetras, amanos, nerita snails, 2 neon tetras