My figure 8 puffer seems sick and/or stressed. He attempts to eat defrosted brine shrimp, but then spits it out. He doesn't swim around like he normally does, he hides. It's very hard to get him to come up to the side of the tank, but he normally comes right up to me whenever I am near the tank. I have had him about a month, and before yesterday morning he seemed happy and healthy. I'm new to puffer keeping, and I don't know what's wrong with him.
-Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate - Unknown, on the way to buy a test kit now.
-Specific Gravity - Between 0.004 and 0.008 (around 0.006-7) (Instant Ocean salt)
-Food - Freeze dried brine shrimp/defrosted brine shrimp. I am also going to try to feed him a mussel, a prawn, and a crab leg.
-He is the only fish in his tank, which is a 26 gallon bowfront. He is about an inch and a half long. He has various plastic plants and a piece of driftwood. He has sand substrate on the bottom of the tank and an oxygen bubbler.
-The tank has been set up for about two weeks, he went into it immediately, but the tank came with a bottle of ammonia-eating bacteria and I put in the required initial dose and the required weekly dose. The water has not been changed, I am going to do that today.
-Over the four-day weekend my family and I went away, his tank light was left on the entire time, and someone came by to feed him every day.
Could he be sick, or is he just stressed? I will update this later today, after testing the ammonia and new food. Also, some info on puffer diseases would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Figure 8 Stressed and not Eating
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.
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Pufferpunk
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- Location: Greenville, SC
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Re: Figure 8 Stressed and not Eating
Without knowing the water parameters, there's nothing to go by here. Post again when you have answers.
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!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
-
munchypuf
- Puffer Fry
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- My Puffers: I have a young figure eight puffer named Munchy.
- Location (country): I live on the West Coast of the United States of America.
Re: Figure 8 Stressed and not Eating
Bought some test kits and found out his Nitrite was really high. Moved him to a tank with no Nitrite, but he passed away this morning.
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Welch4
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 698
- Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:22 pm
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- My Puffers: 1 GSP
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- Location: Abington,MA
Re: Figure 8 Stressed and not Eating
Try to get a liquid test kit the paper strips are notoriously unreliable.
Forget other advice about puffers you don't hear here - Pufferpunk
-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32987
- 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: Figure 8 Stressed and not Eating
Then the tank was not cycled, before adding fish.
Read top 4 articles here: library/category/water-filtration/
Read top 4 articles here: library/category/water-filtration/
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!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"