Red Eye puffer - not eating snails.. help!
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.
Re: Red Eye puffer - not eating snails.. help!
Thanks for the replies.
Yeah big water change due today,
and will crush some snails to see if he will take them.
My big concern is his apparent blindness.. Does anyone know if this is permanent or a short lived side effect of nitrite spike!?
Thanks
Dan
Yeah big water change due today,
and will crush some snails to see if he will take them.
My big concern is his apparent blindness.. Does anyone know if this is permanent or a short lived side effect of nitrite spike!?
Thanks
Dan
Re: Red Eye puffer - not eating snails.. help!
one more point which i am hesitant on is the adding of tap safe.. surely this is adding to the cocktail of chemicals already?
Thanks
Dan
Thanks
Dan
- sevenyearnight
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Balki Bartokomous - Location (country): USA
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Re: Red Eye puffer - not eating snails.. help!
Please use Seachem Prime as your water conditioner. The "blindness" isn't actually such, it's just that they feel so terrible they kind of float like zombies, they can see. It's like when we feel awful and we just want to lay around, but we have gravity to keep our bodies from floating around.

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Re: Red Eye puffer - not eating snails.. help!
If you can set up the water change bucket the day before the change and dechlorinate it then it will be much better than doing it the day of / at the moment of the water change.
if you follow me, you avoid stepping in the crap that I just did...
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZR55G ... pqlgec1A2Q
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZR55G ... pqlgec1A2Q
Re: Red Eye puffer - not eating snails.. help!
Yeah i have to say i have heard that the chlorine evaporates if left for a couple of hours..
It's one of those situations where if you leave water in any vessel of sorts it may get tainted with certain chemicals released from the container.
I have tried the crushing of the snails.. several time.. the puffer just bumps into it then back off.. even tried waving frozen blood worm.. still to no avail.
Think i will make a trip to the aquarium shop tomorrow and pick up some live food and get this little beauty fed to the brim!
i have to say i think Puffers are the coolest more enthralling fish i come across!!
Thanks for all the posts so far! really appreciate it.
Thanks
Dan
It's one of those situations where if you leave water in any vessel of sorts it may get tainted with certain chemicals released from the container.
I have tried the crushing of the snails.. several time.. the puffer just bumps into it then back off.. even tried waving frozen blood worm.. still to no avail.
Think i will make a trip to the aquarium shop tomorrow and pick up some live food and get this little beauty fed to the brim!
i have to say i think Puffers are the coolest more enthralling fish i come across!!
Thanks for all the posts so far! really appreciate it.
Thanks
Dan
- bertie 83
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Re: Red Eye puffer - not eating snails.. help!
Do you have the test kits yet? Water params are essential at this point
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
- sevenyearnight
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Balki Bartokomous - Location (country): USA
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Re: Red Eye puffer - not eating snails.. help!
Yeah, he's definitely not going to eat if he's not feeling well, he's not going to be feeling well if his water is off.

- J-P
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Re: Red Eye puffer - not eating snails.. help!
it does and it doesn't. You still need to add the dechlor, but it just makes things a bit easier for you and the fish.dangriff wrote:Yeah i have to say i have heard that the chlorine evaporates if left for a couple of hours..
if you follow me, you avoid stepping in the crap that I just did...
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZR55G ... pqlgec1A2Q
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Re: Red Eye puffer - not eating snails.. help!
Hi and thanks for the replies,
sorry for not updating recently , but i am still not having much luck with the Snails.. won't touch them.. i have also tried the live blood worm and still not touching them either..
Any other suggestion?
Thanks
sorry for not updating recently , but i am still not having much luck with the Snails.. won't touch them.. i have also tried the live blood worm and still not touching them either..
Any other suggestion?
Thanks
- bertie 83
- Moderator
- Posts: 5298
- Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2011 4:28 pm
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- My Puffers: lineatus R.I.P, South American puffer. Valentini puffer, porcupine puffer.
Non puffer
Danios, Tetras, Redtail Rasporas,
Harlequins, CAE's, Yoyo
Loaches, Clown loaches ,Eels, various shrimp, tangs,wrasses, damsels, chromis - Location (country): Brighton, England
- Location: brighton , england
Re: Red Eye puffer - not eating snails.. help!
Without test results it's hard to say. I would always advise another water change, this may help
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
- J-P
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Re: Red Eye puffer - not eating snails.. help!
raw shrimp?
Raw clams, muscles, scallops etc...
Raw clams, muscles, scallops etc...
if you follow me, you avoid stepping in the crap that I just did...
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZR55G ... pqlgec1A2Q
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- sevenyearnight
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- Joined: Wed Aug 31, 2011 2:41 am
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- My Puffers: T. nigroviridis
Balki Bartokomous - Location (country): USA
- Location: South Carolina
Re: Red Eye puffer - not eating snails.. help!
Again, if your water quality is poor, your puffer is going yo feel awful and he won't eat. Instead of continuously pouting different foods in, why don't you find a test kit and test the water? You have to understand how absolutely important it is to have good water quality. You may be doing more damage by putting food into the water that he isn't eating. Do daily 50% water changes and get a test kit.

Re: Red Eye puffer - not eating snails.. help!
kk will get a test kit today!
am expecting a kit tomorrow in the post, but i need to get the little fishy sorted..
I didn't know you could feed them scallops, muscles, and alike.. thought it would be more like live food, water fleas, blood worm.. lol if she has a taste for scallops i am financially done for!!
I am currently changing 20-30% water change a day at the moment.. she doesn't go near the floor of the tank anymore.. just buzzing up and down the tank glass in the corner..
best
D
am expecting a kit tomorrow in the post, but i need to get the little fishy sorted..
I didn't know you could feed them scallops, muscles, and alike.. thought it would be more like live food, water fleas, blood worm.. lol if she has a taste for scallops i am financially done for!!
I am currently changing 20-30% water change a day at the moment.. she doesn't go near the floor of the tank anymore.. just buzzing up and down the tank glass in the corner..
best
D
- J-P
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 5626
- Joined: Tue Oct 13, 2009 12:21 am
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- Location (country): Japan
- Location: Sasebo, Nagasaki, Japan
Re: Red Eye puffer - not eating snails.. help!
glass pacing in normal for the first little while.
Eating or not eating, an on going issue with puffer keepers is cleaning up after them. ANY uneaten food should be removed from the tank.. No Exceptions.
When I had GSPs I always dropped the shrimp in an area within clear view. Anything not eaten with a certain period of time was removed. Not removing, it will pollute the water and can spike the ammonia / kill the fish.
Eating or not eating, an on going issue with puffer keepers is cleaning up after them. ANY uneaten food should be removed from the tank.. No Exceptions.
When I had GSPs I always dropped the shrimp in an area within clear view. Anything not eaten with a certain period of time was removed. Not removing, it will pollute the water and can spike the ammonia / kill the fish.
if you follow me, you avoid stepping in the crap that I just did...
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZR55G ... pqlgec1A2Q
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZR55G ... pqlgec1A2Q
Re: Red Eye puffer - not eating snails.. help!
I currently have .5 cm to 2 inch pebbled on the top. It isn't great for clean..
maybe i need to re asses my setup..
would prawns be any good for feeding?
maybe i need to re asses my setup..
would prawns be any good for feeding?