Hey everyone,
Glad to see the sites still up and running, and expanding! I havent been on here forever.
Anyway I have a 125 saltwater aquarium fowlr that has been running for nearly two years housing a large stars and stripes puffer. I do water changes every 2 to 3 weeks and I have not made any recent changes to the aquarium. Recently when feeding my puffer I have noticed his belly seems to be bulking out unusually in areas it hasn't before (mainly farther back on his belly). Since he is such a large puffer (12 inches) it was a pretty noticable difference when I saw his belly bulking out differently than normal and thats why I'm concerned. Also his belly seems to be skinnier around his butt. His behavior is still the same and he is always eager for a meal. I feed him mainly silversides, along with some krill and shrimp. Any input and advice on how to go about curing constipation would be greatly apprciated.
Curing Constipation
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.
-
Nick
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 3231
- Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:47 pm
- My Puffers: Mine:
GSPs - Shakespeare and Jillybean
F8 - Velvet
My fiance:
DP - Emma Goldman
Narrow Lined Puffer - Ulrike - Location (country): Northeastern USA
- Location: Middletown, CT
- Contact:
Re: Curing Constipation
You have to get him off the silversides, I'd say thats a big part of the remedy. The krill are no good for anything other than a snack, either, but are better than the silversides. A diet high in mussels, clams, cockles and squid would work better. Puffers are not fast enough to catch much of any fish in the wild and a primarily fish diet (with the exception of certain lurking piscivors FW puffers) will cause health problems as they cannot properly digest fish. I'd say the first step is to try to get him to eat some peas, they can act as a diuretic, and no more silversides no matter how he begs.
No matter how magnificent your successes or devastating your failures, the worlds' approximately 5 billion impoverished people could not possibly care less.
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
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T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
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Re: Curing Constipation
I agree with the diet Nick suggests. Is he pooping at all? If you really think he's constipated, you can give him epsom salt baths of 1tbsp/5g for about an hour at a time (mixed with his tank water & kept warm & airated).
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: Curing Constipation
Thanks for the quick and very helpful replies! I'm going to try to offer him some peas right away, I have fed him these before and he loves them. Problem with them is they never really digest and get stuck in my filters.. I guess because they are vegys and that makes it harder? Should I feed him the whole green pea or just the little peas that are inside with the outer covering taken off? As for poop I havent noticed, I looked on the floor of the tank some and couldnt find any. Him being constipated just came to my attention as a possibilty yesterday morning when I noticed his irregular body shapes when takeing in food, looked much differently than usual as far as where his belly was expanding. Where do you guys pick up the clam, and squid/mussel? Local grocery store like Krogers? Also are they packaged containing salt and if so do you just wash them under water first? Should I try feeding him the peas today and tonight and then if I don't see any waste still give him the salt baths tomorrow?
Thanks again puffer Huey appreciates the help
Thanks again puffer Huey appreciates the help
-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32979
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
Re: Curing Constipation
Get them in the produce dept (fish section) of your grocery store. Fresh or frozen, not cooked. Be sure to freeze 1st, to kill off any nasties & I thaw in cool vitamin water.
Take the shells off the peas.
Take the shells off the peas.
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!"
-
Nick
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 3231
- Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:47 pm
- My Puffers: Mine:
GSPs - Shakespeare and Jillybean
F8 - Velvet
My fiance:
DP - Emma Goldman
Narrow Lined Puffer - Ulrike - Location (country): Northeastern USA
- Location: Middletown, CT
- Contact:
Re: Curing Constipation
It might not be traditional constipation, just indigestible fish fats etc building up in his intestines which will clear out with proper diet over time. You want to feed just the peas, and I even take the casings off the individual peas for mine, since my puffers just spit them out anyway and eat far less actual pea while doing it.
No matter how magnificent your successes or devastating your failures, the worlds' approximately 5 billion impoverished people could not possibly care less.