The Puffer Forum

Update: 12/16/08
Chong's belly has been white now for 2 days. I've done two water changes and making water for another on Sunday. The nitrates have gone down to between 10-20. He showed a little intrest in food yesterday but still didn't eat. He bit at the food and then turned away. But at least he is showing some intrest and his belly is white. I'm hoping he will pull through! He's not nipping at the rocks like he did before so I'm guessing he still a little depressed. It just amazes me that they can go though sorrow like this. Elvis is still the pig he was, eating well and begging for food everyday. I'm going to feed them again tomorrow and I'll update if there is any change in Chong's eating habit.

One more thing he's started pacing the glass. There are lot's of nukes and cranny's for him to explore but he just goes back and forth pacing the glass. I dropped a few snails in there yesterday and he ignored them so I took them back out.

Hoping the white belly is a good sign that things are improving.

My husband said Elvis didn't have enough room to swim so I rearranged the rock in the tank to give him more room. Here's an updated pic of the tank. (I did a water change right after I rearranged to get any particles that were floating around.)

Chong is in the right bottom corner, you can see his belly already starting to turn white.

if you think you have too much rock for elvis to move around, you can send some to me...haha!!

i am not sure if this is too obvious but have you tried offering Chong some of his favorite foods? or before this whole move did he like everything you gave him?

I would have guessed that Elvis might be dominating the tank but this one is bigger AND your GSPs and S&S were together in the other tank.

Regarding the nitrate situation, i would suggest giving the sand a good raking and doing a water change at that point. hopefully the excess nitrates that were stuck in the sand would be sucked up during the WC. or maybe there was some minor die off from the LR and this caused a quick mini-cycle?

are you feeding elvis more than usual?

My final suggestions is maybe a new GSP for Chong?

I'm not planning to get a replacement GSP. After moving around the rock and stirring the sand a bit I did a 50% water change. Cheech & Chong were both eating before the move. I feed them every 3 days. Any food that they don't eat I remove. When Cheech refused food after the move, Chong wouldn't eat either. Elvis is a big baby, he don't dominate. He will actually let Cheech & Chong eat his mussle and when they move then he will go in to get a bite. He has never showed any aggression towards either of them. They would even sleep in his cave either on top of him or next to him.

Chong just ate a piece of shrimp!

I'm so proud of him!

great to hear that things are improving!

bless...

Good to hear!
I still can't get over Elvis, he's so awesome!

The guys from the lfs said the same thing. They just can't get over how much he has grown. I got Elvis in Feb. 2008, he was about 4" from nose to tail. Now he's about 10" from nose to tail. I just love him to death! I think Annabelle has already grown almost 2" since I got her. She's growing really fast also. Now that she's in the 125 G I know she will really grow. I can't wait until her and Elvis are the same size.

13 Days after moving Annabelle into the larger tank her mini cycle is offically over!
Elvis' tank is also doing really well, Nitrates slowly going down.
I've done daily 25% w/c on Annabelle's tank and 3 50% w/c on Elvis' tank. I have another one scheduled for tomorrow on both tanks. Just wanted to let everyone know the crisis has past.
Even Chong is over his hunger strike and eating well with a white tummy. It's been a stressful two weeks and I'm glad it's over.