10+ week Fahaka hunger strike ...

[newbiepuff]

Hi all .. need some help if theres any left :/

Ever since moving our fahaka Jabba the Hut 10+ weeks ago shes barely eaten at all .. actually the 2 times that she did take a bite she spat most of the food out!

We were in the process of removing the 150g to a different room and she was very calm in the process didnt freak out or anything and yes we used a large bucket and not a fish net .. didnt even puff or try to swim away, just cool as a cucumber.

Now we have tried offering the following :

cooked+raw mussles different types of mussles(Her larger favourite ones which she couldnt get
enough of before)
Raw King Prawns
Squid(will not go near)
Cockles(Swims away from it)
Snails with shell(Doesnt care for it)
Bloodworms, pink worms
live crab
live crayfish

Even threw in some lobster meat!!


Tried the garlic soak but doesnt work.

The 2 crayfish i dropped in she didnt go for it and they have made themselves a nice home behind the rocks ...

What i dont get his shes still chubby! in a good way ofc not bloated or anything
and her colours are still bright but the occiasional black darker colour when i try to offer her food or get too close to her. Actually everytime i get close now she swims away from me :/

Shes easily startled as well ... bangs into things and darts all over the tank.

Have had her since last June as a baby 1incher ... even raised her in a tank full of baby crrayfish about 30 and she ate most of them apart from the ones could not get. This was from 1 - 3inch.

The tank size is 5x2x2 with 3600l/hr filter flow. Lives with all sorts 2x3"Hap mooris, 1x 4"Frontosa, 7x tiger barbs, 4x neons, 1x4" upside down catfish, 1x 3"algae eater. 2x 2" Redtail sharks and 1 3" rainbow shark.

She around 8-9inch atm and has a beautiful shape with good bright colours.

Iam not sure what else to do to get her to eat.

Tried leaving the food there for while but doesnt pay attention to it.

Im starting to think she hates me now ever since moving the tank ...

She use to be all over the front panel when she was hungry and that was most of the time and she swims up to the top to let me know to feed her .. she still does that now n again but she will swim away once dropped in the food ...

I wonder if theres something else i could try to tempt her to eat???!

Whats wierd is she hasnt eatenproperly for 10 weeks and hasnt touched any of the fish she has been living with since August ...

Thinking of her trading her in now as not only she swims away from us and not eat .. shes not active at all and sits on the sand 24/7 :/

I do at least 50% water change in all my tanks each week .. change all filters every 3 weeks only 1 at a time.

Nitrates 5
Nitrites 0
Ammonia 0

ph 7.5

Temp 27oC


any advice? thx!

[LilGreenPuffer]

Live earthworms?

[pufferpuggirl]

Several of my puffers will go on hunger strike if I move them to a different tank. The fact that you've said she's not thin and is still looking good is a good thing. My first idea was that maybe she's got internal parasites, but it doesn't sound like it after I've read what you've wrote. I mean, she's not thin, and you've not mentioned anything about white pearly looking poop, so that's very good.

You said that she isn't very active .... was she much more active before the move? My Fahaka isn't very active either, mostly sitting on the substrate, and I think that's pretty much the norm.

Personally since she's not looking ill and still looks good, I'd be inclined to leave her and see what happens, offering her food every few days, but not daily. Seems a shame to get rid of her just because she's going through some behavioural changes. There could be underlying reasons why she's behaving like this, but I'm afraid without more symptoms it's hard to tell just what the issue is. If she were very skinny and looking ill I'd be very worried, but she sounds okay and it makes me wonder if she's not getting food somewhere to still be looking healthy and not losing weight after all that time. You sure she can't be getting a source of food somehow? You missing any fish?

[newbiepuff]

Live earthworms?

Yep tried those although the words I used were pink hehe
Thx tho

[newbiepuff]

Several of my puffers will go on hunger strike if I move them to a different tank. The fact that you've said she's not thin and is still looking good is a good thing. My first idea was that maybe she's got internal parasites, but it doesn't sound like it after I've read what you've wrote. I mean, she's not thin, and you've not mentioned anything about white pearly looking poop, so that's very good.

You said that she isn't very active .... was she much more active before the move? My Fahaka isn't very active either, mostly sitting on the substrate, and I think that's pretty much the norm.

Personally since she's not looking ill and still looks good, I'd be inclined to leave her and see what happens, offering her food every few days, but not daily. Seems a shame to get rid of her just because she's going through some behavioural changes. There could be underlying reasons why she's behaving like this, but I'm afraid without more symptoms it's hard to tell just what the issue is. If she were very skinny and looking ill I'd be very worried, but she sounds okay and it makes me wonder if she's not getting food somewhere to still be looking healthy and not losing weight after all that time. You sure she can't be getting a source of food somehow? You missing any fish?

Thx for your advice.How long were your fahakas hunger strikes?

Def no Ips shes been treated before when we first got her as was skinny as a rake and now nice n chubby hehe

Definetly looks really healthy and defo not ill apart from the odd personility.Yeah only try to give her food 1-2x a week when she has a wee burst of energy and comes to front or top of the tank. She seems to always stare at the front door like she wants out ....

Well as written above all the fish have been intact and they have all been together for months although she has eaten a couple barbs the first few days they all met but that was half a year ago.And tbh was my fault as we use to make her *work* for her food instead of just dropping it in, we help her chase it up and down the tank and she went for a big chomp and bit the barb in half ... so defo not gettign food from elsewhere shes still chubby but can tell she lost awee bit of weight as before she was a bit of a fatty hehe

Yeah im prepared to wait bit longer but already 10+ weeks and its the fact shes not personable anymore to us that bothers me :/ To go from feeding food in hand chasing it up n down twice a day to swimming away from me is kinda .. sad

[doraemon]

Hi
have you seen any poop at all? could it be its constipated?

[newbiepuff]

Hi
have you seen any poop at all? could it be its constipated?

hmm good suggestion.. very good!

I havent seen much at all .. but usually when i do which is rare its brown blobs ...

If its constipated could i try something just to make sure? What would be the
best test or treatment for this constipation?

[pufferpuggirl]

Epsom salts.

[doraemon]

i used 1 tablespoon per 10gallons, mix it up in tank water and pour it in, i believe thats the best way for you as if you try and take it out and give them a epsom salt bath i believe you will stress it more.
i used it on my fahaka because her poop was only little drops so i used the salt for constipation and she has been pooping fine ever since (touch wood) it only took a day or less to see it working... so give it a try and see if thats the case no harm done but one less suggestion to go by eh.

i will advice you not to feed it so often though, as over feeding with kindness can lead to digestive problems.

if u are seeing bits of poop then it must be eating and maybe it going towards u like before for feeding time is its way of asking for ur help..i think thats cute and only you can help it right now..i really hope u dont give up on your puffer.

good luck with the epsom salts and keep us informed how it goes

[newbiepuff]

Thanks alot all for the encouragement and advice and great advice at that. Will order epsom salts first thing tomorrow from a good friend who sells them at the bagfull all 25kilos .. i usually get them for my Dad for the epsom salt bath soaks so its nice timing as well and hopefully Puffer will come back to her previous form and be happy and eat heartly, will let you guys know

[LilGreenPuffer]

If she's constipated enough not to eat at all, then she's going to be horribly bloated. Is she?

[newbiepuff]

If she's constipated enough not to eat at all, then she's going to be horribly bloated. Is she?

Wierd thing is she doesnt look bloated and looks really healthy. Kinda looks like this one but belly isnt as big :

http://www.siamfishing.com/board/upload ... 832320.jpg

Still going to try the espom salts just incase because she hasnt lost much weight at all for not eating properly for 10+ weeks.

[DarkStorm]

peas for pooping,
if she will let you hold her try feeling around on her belly for anything abnormal she might just need a burping,

[purplecandle]

I know absolutely nothing about fahakas, but I was reading and wondering something...

You said she has been different since you moved her....and you said she stares out the door like she wants to leave...

I am wondering if the door is bothering her..people coming in and out startling her..or maybe she is just wishing for legs LOL

Anyway you can block here view of the door?

Just a stupid thought I had..

[purplecandle]

I mean if puffers can see out of their tank, wouldn't they consider outside of their tank their home? Especially considering how territorial they are?

So, moving them might be like taking them away from home...

or that door opening and letting people in might feel like they are losing control of their home..no territorial species ever wants to lose control..

Ok, enough puffer psychology...