911 Choking 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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SaltwaterPufferGirl
- Dwarf Puffer
- Posts: 65
- Joined: Fri Feb 10, 2006 9:39 am
- My Puffers: 2 dogface puffers, 1 porcupine puffer
- Location: Henryville, IN. EST time zone
911 Choking porcupine puffer
I have a porcupine puffer about 6 inches long, I fed him tuesday night and while I was cutting up the thawed shrimp with tail on type over the top of the tank like I always do. I dropped a piece of shrimp the tail end that was about 2 inches long, he usually gets the tail ends anyways to help keep his teeth trimmed down. And to allow other fish to eat just not a piece that big. He seemed to take longer trying to eat it but seemed to finally get it down. Well late last night when I got home I was going to feed him a small piece of shrimp that my other fish didn't want in another tank, he tried to eat it got it about half way in his mouth then spit it out. He never rejects food, ever, I tried a snail he showed interest but then just swam away and I noticed him hovering in the tank with his tail fin fanned out and he was somewhat bending his hind end up and would take off swimming from one end of the tank to the other. I just fear that the shrimp tail got stuck on its way down to his stomach. Is there anything I can do for my little guy. I tried to look in his mouth last night to see if I could see the piece of shrimp, but I couldn't see very far into his mouth.
Smiles are free... so give them away...
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Pufferpunk
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Re: 911 Choking porcupine puffer
My guess is that he's probably OK. I don't think a shrimp would be enough to choke a puffer. It's a totally natural food for him. Maybe he just ate his fill. Do his teeth look OK?
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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SaltwaterPufferGirl
- Dwarf Puffer
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Re: 911 Choking porcupine puffer
Oh yeah his teeth are fine, He gets snails regulary along with shrimp with the shell still on. I was going to reach into the tank to get the piece of shrimp because it is as big around as my index finger and like i said maybe as long as 2 inches. But you know how they gobble stuff up he is super fast. It just looks like he is stiffened his body and has is tail curved upwards. He swims fine but won't eat. and when he was eating the huge piece he already had a chunk in his mouth chomping on it then gulped the other one in. Hopefully when I get home today he will show some interest in food. He also i acting skiddish when I come to the tank, Not doing the look at me I'm hungry look like he always does everytime I walk past the tank. but will take off and start swimming back and forth. If i didn't know better I would say he is trying to push the food down by force of swimming fast.
Smiles are free... so give them away...
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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:
Re: 911 Choking porcupine puffer
What else do you feed him? How often?
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!"
-
SaltwaterPufferGirl
- Dwarf Puffer
- Posts: 65
- Joined: Fri Feb 10, 2006 9:39 am
- My Puffers: 2 dogface puffers, 1 porcupine puffer
- Location: Henryville, IN. EST time zone
Re: 911 Choking porcupine puffer
Crab meat, krill as treats. shrimp. squid, and scallops. every couple of days. all my fish have been eating this mixture for almost 2 years now.
Smiles are free... so give them away...
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Puffer Queen
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Re: 911 Choking porcupine puffer
Diodons have two fused dental plates so overgrowth is not a problem.
Tetradons have four fused plates that form the beak and this group is the one that has the problems and requires dentistry.
More than likely the shrimp tail might have scraped the back of the mouth/throat and caused temporary discomfort. Watch closely, he should be okay.
Tetradons have four fused plates that form the beak and this group is the one that has the problems and requires dentistry.
More than likely the shrimp tail might have scraped the back of the mouth/throat and caused temporary discomfort. Watch closely, he should be okay.
Kelly