I have a green spotted puffer, and have had him in the tank since I got him, about 8-9 months ago. The tank has been set up for about the same amount of time.
Parameters:
SG: 1.008
pH: 7.2
Nitrite: 0/undetectable
Nitrate: 45 mg/L (doing a water change after I post this to bring them down)
He still eats just not nearly as much as he used to and spends most of his time just sitting under the filter intake. When he does swim around he goes up and down by the side of the tank. I've tired rearranging the decorations inside, I've built caves for him to swim through and just doesn't seem all that interested in any of them.
The tank is 55 gallons with the following tank makes:
1 Archer fish
2 celebes rainbows
3 knight gobies
4 australian rainbows
1 mono
1 Colombian shark that sits in the corner
1 orange chromide
Handfuls of nerite snails
I feed the tank once a day a mix of mysis shrimp, blood worms, flakes, brine. Also toss in regular snails 1-2 a week. Using instant ocean salt, and no other products are used in the tank. I've not added any tank mates or changed feedings or anything like that recently. I have a canister filter rated for 125 gallon tank, not sure the name of it off hand. Changed the media at the beginning of the month. The puffer has been like this since the last week of January, figured he was just bored and in a funk so I moved everything and no luck.
Suggestions? Thanks for you help.
GSP Listless and not eating as much
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.
-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
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burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
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Re: GSP Listless and not eating as much
Water change schedule? See if bringing down the nitrate helps him.
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!"
-
ashtree68
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Tue Dec 15, 2009 6:37 pm
- Location (country): Uptown, Chicago, Il,USA
Re: GSP Listless and not eating as much
Ah sorry, it gets changed every 2 weeks, about 25 gallons.
-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32987
- 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: GSP Listless and not eating as much
Start changing 50% weekly.
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!"
-
ashtree68
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Tue Dec 15, 2009 6:37 pm
- Location (country): Uptown, Chicago, Il,USA
Re: GSP Listless and not eating as much
Sounds good, I'll start doing that. Is it just the nitrates then?
-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32987
- 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: GSP Listless and not eating as much
Hard to tell until you get them down to an acceptable level of <20.
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!"