Picky Little Eater

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
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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.
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Jagatorjake
Puffer Fry
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Picky Little Eater

Post by Jagatorjake »

Hello everyone,
Its been a while since i've posted on the forums. I've run into a bit a of a problem and i need your help, considering i haven't found much information on the subject. Basically me F8 puffer George has visible signs of internal parasites(He's very skinny, and gets skinny quickly after eating). I've tried several methods of feeding him prazi pro soaked food. I've tried dried blood worms, and frozen blood worms, and he simply won't eat the food i put in front of him. I've even treated the tank with prazi pro just to dilute the taste. I recenty purchased some kents xtreme garlic fish attractant that is supposed to attract him to the food, but even with the garlic and prazi pro, he won't touch it. i was wondering of maybe another dried food i could try or even a different medication. any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that’s even remotely true!
--Homer Simpson
sevenyearnight

Re: Picky Little Eater

Post by sevenyearnight »

Have you tried garlic and medicated non-dried food? Like shrimp or clams?
goby1kenobi
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Re: Picky Little Eater

Post by goby1kenobi »

Perhaps freeze-dried krill? How big is George?
tank: saltwater 55g, one 5" GSP named Random (mka Puff)
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Jagatorjake
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Re: Picky Little Eater

Post by Jagatorjake »

I haven't tried shrimp or clams, nor have i tried soaking the frozen bloodworms in the garlic along with medicine. that will be his meal tomorrow. As far as krill, i've never tried to feed him that before, so maybe i'll give it a try, though he's always turned his nose up to brine shrimp. He's about an inch and a half long. Do you guys have any experience with jungle parasite clear?
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Re: Picky Little Eater

Post by Pufferpunk »

Jungle Parasite Clear worked well for my Congo.
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!"
sevenyearnight

Re: Picky Little Eater

Post by sevenyearnight »

I soaked all my puffer's food in a small amount of tank water, with a garlic clove pressed into it, with the small amount of medication. Jungle Buddies is fine, just break off a small piece. Shrimp, squid, clams, mussels, scallop..etc. Mine won't eat dried anything.
I would use the same batch for three days, then make a new one with a different food source. Let a new batch soak for at least 10 min, but the longer the better to ensure the medication is absorbed.
The trick is to get enough medication in the food without being it too medicated tasting so the puffer will still eat it with the garlic masking it.
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Jagatorjake
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Re: Picky Little Eater

Post by Jagatorjake »

Ok well maybe that was my problem, i was letting the dry food sit in the mixture of medicine and tank water for at least an hour. maybe more feedings with less medication would work better, i'll try soaking some frozen shrimp in a mixture this week. I'll let you know how it goes. If i wanted to use the parasite clear internally i'd soak the food in tank water with say, 1/4 of a tab? Thanks for the replies!
Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that’s even remotely true!
--Homer Simpson
sevenyearnight

Re: Picky Little Eater

Post by sevenyearnight »

I'd start with a smaller piece, he'll recognize that smell immediately. Mine wouldn't even touch the same kind of food un-medicated after I used too much medication on it trial and error. They are very clever!
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Re: Picky Little Eater

Post by Srkoe »

I always use Jungle. All my puffs have taken fine except for one of my dp's...he has ip's and will not eat ANYTHING with meds...I'm afraid I will lose him soon :(. Good luck to you.
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