Help! Not eating and thin!

[MrMonkey]

How long can I leave my dwarf puffers without food ? I'm away for a week......or any advice on leaving food they only seem to eat blood worms

They are in a 215 litre tank along with Tiger Barbs, platies and Peppered Corys

[Starlet]

1. Start your own thread, don't hijack.

2. I don't think DPs should be kept with other fish because they can become aggressive.

3. I don't think you should leave them without food for a week. You could have someone feed them 4-5 times that week, but definitely don't leave them unfed for 7 days.

[Starlet]

Update: She swam around a lot just now and I noticed that she keeps running into walls...that's not normal. Is she blind or just weak? She also just puffed for for two seconds (she's never done that before.)

[edmlfc1]

She could be doing that because she's stressed. She could also be acting weird because the meds are working and the worms are dying. Do you have melafix on hand? After the worm treatment you may need to treat with melafix to prevent a secondary infection. If you don't have any, get some and keep it on hand. Have you noticed her going pooh?

[side19]

keep up with doing what pufferpunk and edmlfc say to do. i really hope she makes it through. this is like the annabelle story all over again. go weebo!

[Starlet]

She could be doing that because she's stressed. She could also be acting weird because the meds are working and the worms are dying. Do you have melafix on hand? After the worm treatment you may need to treat with melafix to prevent a secondary infection. If you don't have any, get some and keep it on hand. Have you noticed her going pooh?

I used to have some, but don't now. I might be able to get some tomorrow. There's little white strands floating in the water, but I don't know what they are.

Her routine is always the same. She floats up from the floor, hangs around the top for a while, sways from side to side, starts twitching and swimming in crazy circles (upside down too), ends up on the bottom again, sometimes puffs up, and then starts floating up again after 15 minutes or so...

If I catch her doing it again, I can try to film it so you know what I'm talking about.

[side19]

the stringy stuff could be purged worms, it sort of sound like a swim bladder issue to with the whole swimming oddly and upside down. not sure though, never had a fish with a swim bladder issue, only seen them in stores. i hope she makes it.

[Starlet]

the stringy stuff could be purged worms, it sort of sound like a swim bladder issue to with the whole swimming oddly and upside down. not sure though, never had a fish with a swim bladder issue, only seen them in stores. i hope she makes it.

If it's a swim bladder thing, wouldn't she be somewhat bloated? Cuz she's definitely not...

(I also found another oto fry in the bucket. It must have come in on the air stone...those things just don't die! Lol. My oto hasn't been preggo for the last couple months, yet those fry seem to be everywhere. Anyway, it's still alive so the water quality must not be bad in the bucket.)

[edmlfc1]

If you are seeing white stringy stuff that's most probaly worms. That's a good thing. Do another water change tomorrow to get the worms out and redose the epsom salt and the medication.

[Starlet]

When I redose with the meds, should I use a dose to replace the changed water, or a dose for the entire 5g bucket? (Didn't get a clear answer last time )

And she just did it again; I'm uploading the video now.

[Starlet]

http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii26 ... CN8267.flv

[edmlfc1]

Does the whole 5 gallons.

[edmlfc1]

My guess is that she's malnourished (due to the worms), weak and disoriented. She is still in very bad shape. Your doing everthing you can for her right now. You just need to keep treating her for worms, and use epsom salt to help her pass it. Once that is over then treat with melafix to help her heal. Hopefully she will make it through treatment.

[Starlet]

Ok, so I should be doing a 50% wc every day, dosing for 5g every day, and putting in a tbsp. of epsom salt every day, right? How long do I need to keep that up?

[edmlfc1]

Treat 3-5 days for Ip's. Also use epsom salt during the 3-5 days. If it looks like she has passed them worms after the 3rd day then stop the worm treatment. You can start the treatment with melafix at anytime. I personally would wait until I stopped the worm treatment. I would also do the epsom salt treatment for at least 3 days after the worm treatment is over.