ph: 8.2
ammonia: 0ppm
nitrite: 0ppm
nitrate: 15ppm
sg: 1.008
temp is at 80°F
tanks size is 29 gallon. spot, my gsp, is the only inhabitant
i feed 6 days and skip one. we skipped yesterday. change water on sundays. i use prime as dechlorinator and petco brand marine salt.
the only change ive made to the tank in the last week was bringing up the salinity from 1.006 to 1.008. the biggest change was for over a week (starting the weekend before 4th of july) ive had the flu, so its been my boyfriend feeding him.
the tank has been set up for over a month now. it is cycled (it cycled when we got spot unfortunately, but it has been stable for over 4 weeks now).
its really strange. the last three days he hasnt really touched his food and he looks very slender. not hollowed out, but slender. his color is great, bright white belly and pale green on his back; spots are nice and dark. his eyes are not sunken in. he goes after snails with a vengence, but suddenly wont touch market shrimp, brine shrimp or blood worms. he eats a couple and then ignores the rest.
when do i need to start panicking?
do puffers sometimes not eat?
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: do puffers sometimes not eat?
when you see stringy feces or when he gets indented rather than streamlined.
No matter how magnificent your successes or devastating your failures, the worlds' approximately 5 billion impoverished people could not possibly care less.
-
inkyjenn
- Dwarf Puffer
- Posts: 82
- Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2008 6:13 pm
- My Puffers: 2 Green Spotted Puffers
"Dot" and "Spot" - Location: so cal
Re: do puffers sometimes not eat?
his poops have been brown and fat still
hes always been a little chubby so this is creepy. his now deceased tank mate ate a lot less before he/she died. but the behavior is not the same. the other puffer stopped being active and had a dark belly most of the time. spot is very active in the evenings with a nice bright white belly.
hes always been a little chubby so this is creepy. his now deceased tank mate ate a lot less before he/she died. but the behavior is not the same. the other puffer stopped being active and had a dark belly most of the time. spot is very active in the evenings with a nice bright white belly.
-
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: do puffers sometimes not eat?
when Shakespeare lived alone, after a certain period he stopped eating quite so much. He never got inactive or dark bellied, and ate way more once he had a tankmate again.
No matter how magnificent your successes or devastating your failures, the worlds' approximately 5 billion impoverished people could not possibly care less.
-
inkyjenn
- Dwarf Puffer
- Posts: 82
- Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2008 6:13 pm
- My Puffers: 2 Green Spotted Puffers
"Dot" and "Spot" - Location: so cal
Re: do puffers sometimes not eat?
ok. as long as hes eating and not showing stress coloration, dont panic right?
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inkyjenn
- Dwarf Puffer
- Posts: 82
- Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2008 6:13 pm
- My Puffers: 2 Green Spotted Puffers
"Dot" and "Spot" - Location: so cal
Re: do puffers sometimes not eat?
well, i figured out the problem...
while i was sick my boyfriend was feeding spot at about 9pm. he got used to the later time frame and i was trying to feed him between 5-6pm. when i waited til the later time, he ate like a pig.
silly puffer. doesnt he know hes supposed to be a complete glutton?
while i was sick my boyfriend was feeding spot at about 9pm. he got used to the later time frame and i was trying to feed him between 5-6pm. when i waited til the later time, he ate like a pig.
silly puffer. doesnt he know hes supposed to be a complete glutton?
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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: do puffers sometimes not eat?
I would panick if my fish didn't eat. Hell that goes for any of my pets. Glad your puff is ok 
.
.
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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inkyjenn
- Dwarf Puffer
- Posts: 82
- Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2008 6:13 pm
- My Puffers: 2 Green Spotted Puffers
"Dot" and "Spot" - Location: so cal
Re: do puffers sometimes not eat?
yeah no kidding. i DO panic if he doesnt eat. he seems to be doing quite alright now. not so slender any more.