My Abei has been off his food, by that I mean he normally attacks anything I offer with a passion, but the last few days he just stays in his corner on the bottom of the tank.
I put two pond snails in yesterday which he ate, but just added one today and although he crunched it he spat most of it out and left it.
The snails are being fed to my F8 and there’s no problem, snail tank is clean with 80 percent water changes weekly, no ammonia/nitrite and nitrate is 50ppm, (not changed this week) hardness is high because of cuttlefish bone.
I have tried melafix/pimafix and epsom salts yesterday but still no improvement, any ideas or am I worrying unnecessarily?
Water parameters are zero nitrite/ammonia, nitrate 30ppm, ph 7.8, temp 27 deg
Tank is 125 litres with two pumps giving 1600 lph, last water change was last week when I changed half the water.
Abei not eating normally
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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Boxermom
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Why are you using Melafix, Pimafix and Epsom salts? The first two are for bacterial and fungal infections and aid in healing wounds, while Epsom salts are usually for constipation. Doesn't sound from your description that any of those are a problem or did you forget to mention something?
Sometimes it seems puffers just go through phases like this. Several of us have experienced it recently. They can go for a week or two without food and are fine. If he appears otherwise to be normal, is acting normal, and the water parameters are good, then I would guess its just one of those phases. I equate it with my kids. They go through periods when I can't get them to eat anything at all for weeks, then they'll eat everything in the house for several weeks. It seems to coincide with growth spurts with them.
Sometimes it seems puffers just go through phases like this. Several of us have experienced it recently. They can go for a week or two without food and are fine. If he appears otherwise to be normal, is acting normal, and the water parameters are good, then I would guess its just one of those phases. I equate it with my kids. They go through periods when I can't get them to eat anything at all for weeks, then they'll eat everything in the house for several weeks. It seems to coincide with growth spurts with them.
Tina
Puffers: Auriglobus silus x1, Tetraodon travancoricus x1, Tetraodon turgidus x1, Tetraodon miurus x1, Tetraodon nigroviridis x2, Tetraodon baileyi x2, Tetraodon lineatus x1, Tetraodon palembangensis x1
Puffers: Auriglobus silus x1, Tetraodon travancoricus x1, Tetraodon turgidus x1, Tetraodon miurus x1, Tetraodon nigroviridis x2, Tetraodon baileyi x2, Tetraodon lineatus x1, Tetraodon palembangensis x1
UPDATE
Well it’s been three days since I first posted my concern with little or no change.
I have trawled the hospital forum for ideas, with no luck. I thought from what I read it could be constipation or parasites, but I treated with no success.
He is still sitting on the bottom, heavy breathing and not eating, I added 3 snails and they are still alive after 24 hours.
He is keeping his side fins close and his top fin has dropped, occasionally (seen twice in 3 days) he will get up swim a few inches then return to the same spot.
I just don’t know what to do for this guy, HELP PLEASE!
Well it’s been three days since I first posted my concern with little or no change.
I have trawled the hospital forum for ideas, with no luck. I thought from what I read it could be constipation or parasites, but I treated with no success.
He is still sitting on the bottom, heavy breathing and not eating, I added 3 snails and they are still alive after 24 hours.
He is keeping his side fins close and his top fin has dropped, occasionally (seen twice in 3 days) he will get up swim a few inches then return to the same spot.
I just don’t know what to do for this guy, HELP PLEASE!
-
Pufferpunk
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burrfish
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Pufferpunk
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burrfish
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Unless you haven't been doing them regularly, the very best thing you can do for a fish is large WC! Especially if something is off. Your nitrates should be <20.
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!"
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Pufferpunk
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burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
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If 50% is not getting your nitrates <20, do more. I do 75-90% on all my FW tanks.
Last edited by Pufferpunk on Mon Feb 26, 2007 8:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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!"
-
Pufferpunk
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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
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RO is not the proper water for a FW fish. The fact that your nitrates are 30, means there is some unremoved wastes in the tank still. No biggie, just do larger WC, that's all.
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!"
-
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: