So stop the meds until he starts eating? I can go to my my garden and get worms tonight.Pufferpunk wrote:Try these methods: library/feeding/problems-feeding-your-puffer/
I'd get him eating 1st. Start with a live earthworm.
You are the second person to tell me that. I guess I will give it a try. The instructions on the bottle said to dose the water. I will do a 50% water change tonight and then put in some earth worms. No fertilizers have been used in the garden ever.Pufferpunk wrote:Meds in the water are a waste of meds. As long as no fertilizers have been used in your garden, those worms should be fine for him.
Thank you for the info. I actually knew this already but the bottle says to dose the water so I thought it had some way of working. Who knows, I am trying anything now. I put the carbon back in the filter and did water changes to remove meds. I put two small earth worms into the tank. I am not sure if he ate the earth worms or not. They squirmed around right next to him and he didn't move. I watched for about 5 minutes then I had to go take care of my kids. So I came back about an hour later he was in the same spot but no signs of the worms. I wonder if he ate them or if they are burrowed into the sand. He still looks very skinny.RTR wrote:Freshwater fish rarely drink water. They are hypertonic to the water around then and thus cannot avoid taking up H2O by osmosis through their skin and gills. But that is pure H20, just water, not the things dissolved in it.
Marine fish are the opposite - they are hypotonic to their surrounding, and so lose water (just water, not the things dissolved in it) to their surroundings. This means that they must drink water constantly and excrete the excess minerals taken in by doing that.
That seems confusing to many folks, but it is the way the world works.
HTH
I have the little syringes to give babies/toddlers medicine. Would I use that and what brine shrimp or blood worms?Pufferpunk wrote:I bet they burrowed. Sounds like force-feeding may be in order. Often, animals that have been starving, never eat again.
I can do that. Do you hold the fish in a net or do you try to do it right in the tank?Pufferpunk wrote:You'll have to attach a few inches of air hose to that, to get the food directly into his stomach. I'd mix in meds & vitamins with bloodworms.
Here is what I did. Please keep in mind the stress to the puffer and limit your contact as much as possible.GSPicthus wrote:I can do that. Do you hold the fish in a net or do you try to do it right in the tank?Pufferpunk wrote:You'll have to attach a few inches of air hose to that, to get the food directly into his stomach. I'd mix in meds & vitamins with bloodworms.