A little more than a week ago, I made the mistake of putting 10 ghost shrimp in with my smaller GSP. I bought them for food, so I wasn't worried about losing them, but I figured it would take him a long time to get them all because my larger one took 3 weeks to catch and eat as many. Well, the little guy finished them all off in two days. (I would've taken out the shrimp but there are just too many hiding places for them.) Needless to say, his belly was very full for those two days.
The problem now is that this is the fifth day since he finished them, and his belly is still looking like he just had a really good meal - and I've fed him nothing since he ate the shrimp. The bulk of the fullness is back toward the anus. It really doesn't seem to be going down much day by day. The day before yesterday I gave him the prescribed dose of epsom salts and right away he had some good poops, nice and brown, so I know he's not constipated. He was treated for IPs when I first got him, and he's been alone in the tank the whole time (well, except for the ghost shrimp).
Could these be shell fragments that simply need more time to digest? Or is this about normal for a puffer that stuffed himself for two days?
Belly still full after 5 days
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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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Pufferpunk
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Re: Belly still full after 5 days
You can always treat him for constipation by adding 1 tbsp epsom salt/5g to his tank.
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!"
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bazil323
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Re: Belly still full after 5 days
Even though he pooped, he may still be constipated. Try treating him again with the Epsom salts.
I'd recommend keeping a separate quarantine tank for the shrimp and only adding a couple at a time in the future. This will not only keep him from overindulging in the future, it will also prevent bringing in any disease into your puffer tank. I keep a 20g long for breeding shrimp and snails for this purpose and to always have a supply of both.
I'd recommend keeping a separate quarantine tank for the shrimp and only adding a couple at a time in the future. This will not only keep him from overindulging in the future, it will also prevent bringing in any disease into your puffer tank. I keep a 20g long for breeding shrimp and snails for this purpose and to always have a supply of both.
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marksrush
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Re: Belly still full after 5 days
OK, I'll go ahead and treat him again, he responded pretty well the first time. And I definitely am with you on keeping the ghost shrimp separate from him, I'll never do that again - I did get some more, but they're in my 10 gallon snail breeding tank now.
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Re: Belly still full after 5 days
let us know how it goes.
there may have still been some good hiding shrimp in there that he found too...
there may have still been some good hiding shrimp in there that he found too...
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Re: Belly still full after 5 days
That's what I'm thinking.. he's catching them over time and they're just hiding so you don't see them and think he ate them all right away.
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Pufferpunk
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Re: Belly still full after 5 days
It will also give you a better chance to keep them gut-loaded.bazil323 wrote: I'd recommend keeping a separate quarantine tank for the shrimp and only adding a couple at a time in the future. This will not only keep him from overindulging in the future, it will also prevent bringing in any disease into your puffer tank. I keep a 20g long for breeding shrimp and snails for this purpose and to always have a supply of both.
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!"
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marksrush
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Re: Belly still full after 5 days
Well 10 days after my first posting, nothing's really changed in terms of his belly. I have scoured the tank looking for remaining shrimp he might've been eating, none are there now. He was treated with Epsom salts for 3 days up to yesterday, when I did a 75% water change to give him a break from them because he was starting to look stressed (dark sides). During those three days he pooped often and his stomach got a little smaller. His poo was brown and chunky, except for one time when I saw a small brown chunk hanging on by a rather long white thread, but yesterday he did not poop at all and his stomach is still very full-looking. I'm planning on giving him another treatment of Epsom salts in a couple of days, unless I hear from you all that this would not be the thing to do. He's active, begging for food. Other than possibly treating him again with Epsom salts in a few days, I'm at a loss. I feel so bad because this is all my fault for stupidly putting in all those ghost shrimp at one time.
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Re: Belly still full after 5 days
How long since he ate?
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!"
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marksrush
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Re: Belly still full after 5 days
I gave him a tiny mouthful of oyster two days ago because he was begging so much, and then last night I gave him a little bit of mashed pea.
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Pufferpunk
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Re: Belly still full after 5 days
He ate the pea? I'd stick with feedings like you have been then.
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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marksrush
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Re: Belly still full after 5 days
Well, not the whole pea, but he ate a fair part of it. Maybe sitting it on a crushed clove of garlic for a while was what helped.
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marksrush
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Re: Belly still full after 5 days
It's been 4 days with no food and his belly is still full, although it has maybe gone down a tiny bit. I added some Epsom salts this morning; this will be the second treatment.