Help! Sick Porcupine 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.
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Nick
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 3231
- Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:47 pm
- My Puffers: Mine:
GSPs - Shakespeare and Jillybean
F8 - Velvet
My fiance:
DP - Emma Goldman
Narrow Lined Puffer - Ulrike - Location (country): Northeastern USA
- Location: Middletown, CT
- Contact:
My understanding of how clove oil works is that it's more a combination motor paralytic and anaesthetic than a tranquilizer, and thus isn't likely to dope up your fish.
No matter how magnificent your successes or devastating your failures, the worlds' approximately 5 billion impoverished people could not possibly care less.
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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:
Thank you for all of your valuable help and advice. Unfortunately, we did not have a happy ending. He died almost a week ago. I was surprised at how I reacted when my husband called me at work to tell me the news - I cried. I hadn't realized how attached I had become - they really do have wonderful personalities. We would definitely like to have another and we will NOT buy krill anymore. It will probably be several months before we get another one, though.
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somthingsfishy
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Mon Mar 19, 2007 12:35 pm
is there a folow up on the status of this fish? i am going thru the same thing and and am in need of help. what is the going mortality rate or survival rates of fish in this situation that have been supplimented and force fed using clove oil for sedation. I am wondering if this is a lost cause. please help!! I am at one week of noneating and am serous ablut force feeding, everything sounds very simlar to this post as far as what is going on. Krill / shrimp main diet and im sure its mal nutrition, i should of resurched more upon buying this animnal and this is nobodys fault but my own and i want to take responsability and fix the problem. Saylor is our family pet and and we want to keep it that way. any help is appreciated!!!
If its not broke, dont fix it.
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Nick
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 3231
- Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:47 pm
- My Puffers: Mine:
GSPs - Shakespeare and Jillybean
F8 - Velvet
My fiance:
DP - Emma Goldman
Narrow Lined Puffer - Ulrike - Location (country): Northeastern USA
- Location: Middletown, CT
- Contact:
One week is not a long time for a fish to go without food at all. Some puffers will refuse to eat for a month because they are being snooty about a move and taking their time settling in. I don't think the mortality rate on performing a force feeding should be signifcant at ALL, if it's done carefully. Under sedation the main risk is hurting the fish with the feeding tube. Force feeding including vitamin suppliments is the only known remedy for lockjaw, and I don't see it as being as risky to the fish as just hoping he'll get use of the jaw back on his own, which is nearly always fatal.
No matter how magnificent your successes or devastating your failures, the worlds' approximately 5 billion impoverished people could not possibly care less.
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somthingsfishy
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Mon Mar 19, 2007 12:35 pm
-
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:
-
somthingsfishy
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Mon Mar 19, 2007 12:35 pm
sick puffer
I have searched extensively on lock jaw and i haven't seen anything that states outcomes of the effort you put in towards helping heal the problem. If there is someone that has done the effort and had a good outcome please fill me in and let me know what was done and how you have done this so i can use a method that actually works. There are so many different ways about going about this i want to know which way has proven to work.
If its not broke, dont fix it.