Hi all, newbe here
Some good friends told me about this web site and thought maybe you can help
I have a big dog face puffer ,he's about 12 inches longm he's a light brown / beige color with white spots the size of a dime
He was tank raised and I have only had him for five months, he likes to be hand feed and would only eat freeze dried krill, I recently about two months ago got him to start eating the frozen krill, still give him some freeze dried once in a while but mostly frozen now
Recently on monday I noticed he was not eaten like his normal self, in fact he would take the food chew it and spit it out, he did that with all his krill ,He normally eats 10 in the morning and 10 and night
Then come tuesday he did the same thing ,come wednesday he would not eat at all, not frozen or freze dried, he comes over to my hand like normal, takes a look or sniff on the krill and turns away, has not eaten now for four days
Also he has not let out any waste for this week ,I know this becasue when he goes its like a horse went, Ihave to cleanthe tank everyday, this wek I have not cleaned the tank at all
I have him in the tank with a tusk-flag angel-majestic angel-powder brown tang, keep in mind he is the big boy in the tank, all the other fish are no bigger then 3 inches maybe 4 at the most
he was in the tank by him self until about two months ago when I added the othr fish, I added all at the same time
Also keep in mind this fish loves attention, when you come over to the tank he comes right to you waging his tail ,when I got him the guy at the store advised me he was tank raised by a person who had to give him p as he got to large for the tank
This fish loves to eat his first meal at 7 am sharp and boy if your running late he lets you know by splashing and making all sorts of noise to get your attention
Also recently I just noticed something and I don't know if this makes a difference ,his white spots that where the size of a dime or now small white lines, in fact they look like sprinkles on an ice cream cone
What could be wrong with him??
SICK PUFFER
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.
SICK PUFFER
125 GAL FISH AND LIVE ROCK
Right...is krill his only food? If it is, he could be nutrient-deficient, so you need to try him with some different foods, possibly soaked in garlic extract to stimulate his appetite.
Also, this is v. impo...can you test your water for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, temp and pH, and give them to us...it helps us a lot in figuring out what could be wrong, but from reading your post, I reckon it's a food issue.
If puffs get low on vits they can develop lockjaw, and may need syringe feeding to build them back up.
Another possibility is that he's badly constipated as well, as he might not be getting enough fibre.
Get us your water results, as well as your feeding schedule and water change schedule, and we'll go from there.
Oh, and how big is the tank? 12 inches is a lot of puffer, especially in a community tank!
Pami.
Also, this is v. impo...can you test your water for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, temp and pH, and give them to us...it helps us a lot in figuring out what could be wrong, but from reading your post, I reckon it's a food issue.
If puffs get low on vits they can develop lockjaw, and may need syringe feeding to build them back up.
Another possibility is that he's badly constipated as well, as he might not be getting enough fibre.
Get us your water results, as well as your feeding schedule and water change schedule, and we'll go from there.
Oh, and how big is the tank? 12 inches is a lot of puffer, especially in a community tank!
Pami.
Some call it a product of a mis-spent youth, I call it Rock n Roll ! 
Krill is all he will eat, when I got him the guy told me the person who had him raised him on freeze dried krill
I tired many other foods for six months now and he will not touch anything but krill, the only thing ive gotten him to eat other then freeze dried krill is the frozen krill
Any other food he will tqake n is mouth, check to see if its his normal food, if it is he would eat if not he would spit it out and come right back to you like I dont thik so now weres my krill
He was ank raised from what I understand and the guy who had him before me only feed him the freeze dried krill ,the lucky thing I have going for me is he uses the rock to file his own teeth down, you would be amazed how short he keeps them and how perfect, almost like he went to dental school
Anyway my tank is a 125 gal-he is the bigest fish in there at about 12 inces long-the other fish are no bigger then three inces, I even had a small 1 inch wrase in thre at one time, he is not interested in eaten small tak mates ,to give you a idea of his personality I had a shrimp in therethat took over his cave, I had to take the shrimp out as he was afraid of t and would not go back to his little bed I built him, mean while you could see he was depressed and trd, wanted his home back but would not kick the shrimp out
Also this fish loved attention, if ignored he will spalsh and make all sorts of noise to get your attention
In fact this fish and my dog which is a rott boned, go figure a fish and a dog
My dog goes to thetank, puts her face aganst the tank ,then comes the puffer with his fact to the tank, both wagging there tails and playing with each other, its a funny sight
My water is good, nitrites = o, ammonia = 0, nitrates = 0 ,ph = 8.2, i keep the temp at 80
I tired many other foods for six months now and he will not touch anything but krill, the only thing ive gotten him to eat other then freeze dried krill is the frozen krill
Any other food he will tqake n is mouth, check to see if its his normal food, if it is he would eat if not he would spit it out and come right back to you like I dont thik so now weres my krill
He was ank raised from what I understand and the guy who had him before me only feed him the freeze dried krill ,the lucky thing I have going for me is he uses the rock to file his own teeth down, you would be amazed how short he keeps them and how perfect, almost like he went to dental school
Anyway my tank is a 125 gal-he is the bigest fish in there at about 12 inces long-the other fish are no bigger then three inces, I even had a small 1 inch wrase in thre at one time, he is not interested in eaten small tak mates ,to give you a idea of his personality I had a shrimp in therethat took over his cave, I had to take the shrimp out as he was afraid of t and would not go back to his little bed I built him, mean while you could see he was depressed and trd, wanted his home back but would not kick the shrimp out
Also this fish loved attention, if ignored he will spalsh and make all sorts of noise to get your attention
In fact this fish and my dog which is a rott boned, go figure a fish and a dog
My dog goes to thetank, puts her face aganst the tank ,then comes the puffer with his fact to the tank, both wagging there tails and playing with each other, its a funny sight
My water is good, nitrites = o, ammonia = 0, nitrates = 0 ,ph = 8.2, i keep the temp at 80
125 GAL FISH AND LIVE ROCK
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Pufferpunk
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burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
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You may have not tried every food. There is an excellent post about puffer diet here: http://www.thepufferforum.org/viewtopic.php?t=10
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!"
I think it's just a case of try, try and try again. For now, though, get some garlic juice and vitamin drops from your lfs, and soak the freeze dried krill in it before you serve up.
I'm having the same thing with one of my F8s, Mags...Robert loves his gel-cube-ground-up-shellfish veg and algae stuff, but Mags won't touch it.
I offer it once a week, and Robert goes mad for it...last week was the first time Mags gave it a go and didn't spit it out.
I give them that food once a week cos it's vitamin enriched, with fibre and spirulina...Ocean Nutrition in San Diego make a whole range...look at their website. The cubes are small, but would make a 1 - 2 X a week supplement for your puff when he gets more adventurous with food.
Any progress?
Pami.
I'm having the same thing with one of my F8s, Mags...Robert loves his gel-cube-ground-up-shellfish veg and algae stuff, but Mags won't touch it.
I offer it once a week, and Robert goes mad for it...last week was the first time Mags gave it a go and didn't spit it out.
I give them that food once a week cos it's vitamin enriched, with fibre and spirulina...Ocean Nutrition in San Diego make a whole range...look at their website. The cubes are small, but would make a 1 - 2 X a week supplement for your puff when he gets more adventurous with food.
Any progress?
Pami.
-
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:
Did you QT the new fish before adding them? They could have passed on internal parasites.
If you are feeding that much that often, then I would give him a few days to get hungry enough to try other foods--even a week. Just because he is throwing a temper tantrum, doesn't mean you should feed him. Again, I'd add garlic to the water/food.
If you are feeding that much that often, then I would give him a few days to get hungry enough to try other foods--even a week. Just because he is throwing a temper tantrum, doesn't mean you should feed him. Again, I'd add garlic to the water/food.
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!"
Could the liquid sand effect be from him chomping on the live rock?
The fact that he has pood is a good sign.
Keep offering food, but get yourself a turkey baster just in case you need to start force-feeding him.
There's members here who have force-fed fish before - I haven't - and they'll be able to advise you on how to do it properly.
Keep us posted over the next few days, and good luck.
Pami.
The fact that he has pood is a good sign.
Keep offering food, but get yourself a turkey baster just in case you need to start force-feeding him.
There's members here who have force-fed fish before - I haven't - and they'll be able to advise you on how to do it properly.
Keep us posted over the next few days, and good luck.
Pami.
I found that with my Dog Face any change in diet can lead to constipation. My boy went almost a month without eating due to this problem, which I finely figured out. Epsom salt cleared the constipation up and now when introducing him to any new foods it is done gradually . He should start eating now that he has producted some waste but if not 1 table spoon of epsom salt for every 5 gl. of water in your tank helps with the constipation. Don't just add it to the tank but do a water change and add it into the new water along with your salt. Goodluck and keep us posted.