not eating well..

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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Re: not eating well..

Post by Pufferpunk »

Could be from the teeth being in the way.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

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puffpuff87
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Re: not eating well..

Post by puffpuff87 »

When I get the finquel I'll examine and cut them if need be. They say "as short as feasible;" does that mean almost to the "gums" or jawline, whatever that would be called on a fishy :). And suggestions as to whether or not use the ultra cure px or the prazipro to treat for ip? Thanks again!
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Re: not eating well..

Post by puffpuff87 »

***update*** my little guy is eating again, gaining weight (looks MUCH better!) I've been deworming with gel tek ultra cure px. His ich is gone and he has a buddy who appears to be doing equally as well. I did get the finquel but I'm wondering if I should examine him or leave him be for a while? Thanks for all the help! Still need advice on how to encourage them to eat snails? I've seen them pick at the crushed ones, but they aren't eating it all and leaving the live ones.
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Re: not eating well..

Post by bertie 83 »

You should be able to look at his teeth whilst feeding, trimming their teeth is kinda like trimming cat or dog claws as in there is a sensitive part in the middle. The main part of their teeth remains (as you would when claw clipping), the sharp long point in the middle is clipped off.
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
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Re: not eating well..

Post by puffpuff87 »

I don't think I see a sharp point in the middle. It's not really easy to see but what I can see looks pretty normal. Thank you!
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