The Puffer Forum

I take that back. James Bond is eating. Thumbelina isn't, and she's hovering just barely above the sand, hardly moving. She's refused food during treatment, which I pretty much expected, but there's very little medicine in the water after the water change. (I couldn't find any fresh carbon at the LFS today, and the carbon I have is really old and I was told it's useless now - there's still some medication in there.) She's quite thin, and her stomach has gotten sunken. If it's the worms, wouldn't she have gotten better, not worse, as treatment progressed?

Edit - The otos are eating too, forgot to add that.

James Bond has been grazing all day on the live worms (they can't get under the sand and are stuck on top). Thumbelina hasn't eaten anything yet, not even garlicky bloodworms. It's actually kind of funny - I know it can't be actually happening, but James Bond keeps putting her between him and the food and nudging her towards it. Obviously just a coincidence, but cute nonetheless.

I did a 50% water change (got out the untouched bloodworms), and Thumbelina's perked up a little. She's still not eating, but she's almost back to her normal perkiness levels. Hopefully getting most of the meds out helped. I didn't want to change the water - ammonia was back down to .5ppm and I've probably raised it to .75 now, which is fine because it's detoxed, but adding more will just make this whole ordeal last longer.

Ahahaha! One of the otos got his tail stuck in the pile of live worms!

I have 1ppm ammonia tonight. Ugh! My other tanks were re-aquascaped too and probably lost some bacteria in the process and I'm a bit worried about taking things out of those and putting them in this tank, but I think it needs more bacteria. I'm also going to put some of the gravel out of the bins and into the filter, to see if it just needs to be out in the open more.

ATG had a great idea - I can get an ammonia-absorbing carbon or something like that and run my tap water through it before doing a water change! Then I can actually bring ammonia DOWN with water changes!

I hope everything turns out ok for her.

Yeah, me too. She's been more active lately, so that's good. I wish she'd eat, darn it, but she's just been through an intense treatment and the whole tank has been redone and water quality stinks, so I'm sure she's just not feeling up to eating. James Bond isn't exactly a little piggy right now either. Surprisingly, the otos are really chowing down on the pellets. They're so sensitive - I thought the two that lived would be the first to quit eating.

I think I'll try to hike over to the pet store before it closes tomorrow and see if I can't find some ammonia-absorbing granules.

I got some Ammo-Carb. It's been in there about 20min. Ammonia is about .75ppm as of now; I didn't test before adding it. I'll do another test in an hour or so.

Ammonia seems to have come down marginally.

Oh, when I woke up this morning (okay, afternoon), Thumbelina looked a little less pinched - she didn't have a bulge like she'd just eaten, but her tummy wasn't so hollow, like maybe she'd eating during the night and digested most of it.

.5ppm!

Still .5ppm, but Thumbelina definitely ate! Her tummy is flat and even, not sunken.

Still .5ppm. I took the pouch out for the night - I don't want to accidentally starve my biofilter. I'm likely to sleep for 14+ hours if I don't have any reason to get up, and I don't want to risk leaving the tank ammonialess that long. It's detoxified anyway, so I just need to relax.

This morning (um, almost evening... hey, it's break!), it's just barely under .5ppm. The Ammo-Carb is going back in.

I can't find my ammonia bottle #2, dang it. But this morning Thumbelina looks like she's been eating again - a full meal! Not fat again by any means, but getting there!

Edit - I found my bottle. Phew. Under .25ppm!!!

Yea, she's eating--munch,munch!

Thumbelina has continued to put on weight, and ammonia is nearly gone.