My puffer stopped eating..

[Auctionedllama]

Hi all. I have a GSP in a 10 gallon by himself. I usually feed him live snails (I crush them, because they are the spiral kind puffers can't bite through) and give him like 2 ghost shrimp every week. Recently, I started giving him melafix because I had heard it was good to treat puffers especially if you buy them from walmart (got him from walmart). I've had him for about 2 months now. Anyways, he stopped eating about 3 days ago, and has gotten darker around his face and tail for some reason, and looks skinnier already. He has no interest in food. And his teeth look fine. All the water conditions are great, I just need to add more salt. I have given him about 4 or 5 doses of melafix. What should I do? Thanks

[LilGreenPuffer]

Can you answer these?

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.

[Auctionedllama]

Unfortunately I haven't purchased a test kit yet, but I have my water tested about two times a week at my local pet store. I just had it tested, and the ammonia, nitrate and nitrite were all at 0, and the ph was 7.5 ish. He has no inhabitants with him, lives (temporarily) in a 10 gallon tank with a 20 gallon filter. I feed him crushed snails every other day, or sometimes every day, just depending. I also supplement him with a ghost shrimp as a treat. I sometimes give him dried bloodworms. I started giving him melafix last week, and a couple days after I started dosing him, he started acting sick. I just changed his water two days ago, because I thought it might have something to do with his sickness. I haven't changed anything except his melafix. I have noticed stringy poop on one occasion though. The tank is cycled. Hopefully that helps.

[LilGreenPuffer]

You don't know that it's cycled until you have the test kits. I would do a really big water change, maybe 80%. You probably have too much puffer for too little water, and this means an ammonia/nitrite buildup.

[Pufferpunk]

A cycled tank (especially a 10g with a GSP) will show some nitrate. I'd get your own test kits. How is he acting otherwise--swimmming, breathing normally? Puffers prefer a varied diet. Please read the feeding articles in our Library & also the one on GSPs.

[Auctionedllama]

Well anyways, my little puff died :\ I'm pretty sure the tank was cycled, the water parameters have been very low for the past 3 weeks, ever since I put in a piece of a used filter from a cycled a tank. And they didn't test for nitrate. Only PH, Nitrite, and ammonia. Should I completely start over with fresh water, before I get a new puffer? Thanks everyone

[LilGreenPuffer]

Water parameters were "low"? As in ammonia and nitrite were low? They should be zero at all times.

[Auctionedllama]

They were zero. And PH was a solid 7.5.

[bigfatfish]

So sorry you lost him. Its horrible when you don't know the cause.

[Myaj]

Just a note, Melafix is not something most people add on a regular basis, its more of a treatment for stressful conditions and minor skin wounds.