puffer stopped eating

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
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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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figure8
Puffer Fry
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Jul 07, 2013 7:13 pm
Location (country): vermont, usa

puffer stopped eating

Post by figure8 »

so my 1.5 year old figure 8 just decided to stop eating, ive tried all his favorite foods, even tried garlic extracts, he just doesnt seam to care, or notice theres food there, any advice?
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Pufferpunk
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Re: puffer stopped eating

Post by Pufferpunk »

Moved to Hospital, so you can answer ALL the Qs above, in red.
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!"
RTR
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Re: puffer stopped eating

Post by RTR »

Tank size, water parameters, usual foods?
Where's the fish? - Neptune
figure8
Puffer Fry
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Jul 07, 2013 7:13 pm
Location (country): vermont, usa

Re: puffer stopped eating

Post by figure8 »

tank is a 20 L, ammonia and nitrites are 0, nitrates are less than 10, ph is 7.8, salinity is 1.008, temp is 80 and he used to eat freeze dried krill, ghost shrimp, and home bred snails weekly
figure8
Puffer Fry
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Jul 07, 2013 7:13 pm
Location (country): vermont, usa

Re: puffer stopped eating

Post by figure8 »

why wont my posts show up?
figure8
Puffer Fry
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Jul 07, 2013 7:13 pm
Location (country): vermont, usa

Re: puffer stopped eating

Post by figure8 »

never mind i got him eating
User avatar
Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32979
Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles
Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
Location: Greenville, SC
Contact:

Re: puffer stopped eating

Post by Pufferpunk »

You are a new poster here. Your 1st few posts have to be approved, so we don't let spammers in. My guess is the move caused your puffer not to eat. My fakaka went on a 2-week hunger strike, after moving from a 55g to a 125g.
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!"
RTR
Mentor
Posts: 6155
Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 4:39 pm
Gender: Male
Location (country): East Coast, USA

Re: puffer stopped eating

Post by RTR »

Krill seems to be an iffy food. It likely should be minimized.
Where's the fish? - Neptune
figure8
Puffer Fry
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Jul 07, 2013 7:13 pm
Location (country): vermont, usa

Re: puffer stopped eating

Post by figure8 »

he wasnt eating for a week before the move, i did have a heater malfunction so it might have been the rapid swing in temp and the move, though he still glass dances, even in the 20 long, ive been looking for more plants like java fern to put in, to create a more complex tank
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