HELP hairy puffer hasnt eaten for 5 days
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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fishlover420
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 17
- Joined: Wed Feb 21, 2007 9:38 am
HELP hairy puffer hasnt eaten for 5 days
ok , i bought him 4 weeks ago from a exotic shop for 69 bucks he is 4inches What i am writing about is it took him 2 days to get over the transfer and then he was swimmimg all over. He was in a 10 gallon tank and now he is in a 29 gal tank. ok so he was eating 2 dried krill a day swimming for them also went and got him ghost shrimp he eat a few of those and loved um. he has a much happier home now and i hae a cave for hima nd real plants too. ok so the feeding went on for 2 weeks he ate good and never had a problem then one day 5 days ago he wouldnt come out of his cave when i put his food in there like he did usually so i checked water perimeters. the ph was high and trate was high so i did a partial water change and that helped the numbers like it always does so i have been checking his water for these 5 dyas and the ph is 8 trate is 0 tries 0 ammonia 0 so his water i guess is good i added some salt like he likes that i read anyway. So now what he hasnt eaten anything in 5 days there are still some ghost shrimp in there from a weeka go he hasnt touched them and he wont come out of his cave for nothin. Did i do something wrong or do i need to do somethin different. i dont want him to be unhappy it just kills me. please get back to me
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crazedpuffer
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 1755
- Joined: Sat Aug 06, 2005 11:57 pm
- My Puffers: 1x Porcupine Puffer
1xValentini - Location: Long Island, NY
Re: HELP hairy puffer hasnt eaten for 5 days
0 nitrate is normally a sign of an uncycled tank. Also they are 100% FW fish, do a 50% water change to get some salt out and test your water again and see if any numbers change.
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cobra1713
- Green Spotted Puffer
- Posts: 316
- Joined: Sat Dec 01, 2007 3:26 am
- Location: Apple Valley, CA
Re: HELP hairy puffer hasnt eaten for 5 days
if its just aquarium salt and just a tiny bit it prob wouldnt hurt anything.
but yea zero nitrate is somthing to worry about. either your doing an insane amount of water changes, or your test kit isnt working right. i would do as crazed said and do another water change with just plain freshwater and i would try feeding with frozen bloodworms and some of the other more meaty food that the dried krill to see if he will take them. try some shrimp maybe, i mean like the raw kind you get at a grocery store (my puffers LOVES the stuff)
but yea zero nitrate is somthing to worry about. either your doing an insane amount of water changes, or your test kit isnt working right. i would do as crazed said and do another water change with just plain freshwater and i would try feeding with frozen bloodworms and some of the other more meaty food that the dried krill to see if he will take them. try some shrimp maybe, i mean like the raw kind you get at a grocery store (my puffers LOVES the stuff)
60g with 2 angels, 1 yoyo loach, Upside down catfish, Clown Loach, 1 leopard Ctenopoma, 12 black skirt tetras and a L201 Pleco
30g GSP tank (soon to be 35 gal Hex)
30g GSP tank (soon to be 35 gal Hex)
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fishlover420
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 17
- Joined: Wed Feb 21, 2007 9:38 am
Re: HELP hairy puffer hasnt eaten for 5 days
the numbers were a lot higher i did a water change and thats what gave me the 0s on the test. i use an expensive tube kit. he never cared for bloodworms it was the krill he liked all along and ghost shrimp. well he came out of his cave the other day wedged himself between a plant and the glass and lets say may he rest in peace. i am so heart broken. it is my fault maybe i panicked and changed to much water when i got those high numbers.? i dont know but i never seen him poop with all the food he ate. i guess i will stick to the cheaper fish.cobra1713 wrote:if its just aquarium salt and just a tiny bit it prob wouldnt hurt anything.
but yea zero nitrate is somthing to worry about. either your doing an insane amount of water changes, or your test kit isnt working right. i would do as crazed said and do another water change with just plain freshwater and i would try feeding with frozen bloodworms and some of the other more meaty food that the dried krill to see if he will take them. try some shrimp maybe, i mean like the raw kind you get at a grocery store (my puffers LOVES the stuff)
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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:
Re: HELP hairy puffer hasnt eaten for 5 days
Large water changes don't harm fish unless the tank has had only small water changes or none at all over a long period of time, causing the water in the tank to be very different from the fresh water and shocking the fish. Relatively new tanks and well maintained tanks do not have this issue.
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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StormySkiez
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 679
- Joined: Sun Nov 11, 2007 9:00 am
- My Puffers: 55G 2- 1 3/4 inch GSP's ~Bud AKA Jaws and Puff~
- Location: USA~TN
Re: HELP hairy puffer hasnt eaten for 5 days
Sorry about your loss fishlover 
.
.
55g-2 green spotted puffers 1 year old Nov 08!
20g-5 leopard danio,4 whiteskirt tetras, amanos, nerita snails, 2 neon tetras
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cobra1713
- Green Spotted Puffer
- Posts: 316
- Joined: Sat Dec 01, 2007 3:26 am
- Location: Apple Valley, CA
Re: HELP hairy puffer hasnt eaten for 5 days
no dont think of it as your fault, even knowing to do a water cahnge and watching for nitrates is a very good thing in itself! and the hairy puffer is a puffer remember, and one of the more exotic ones so they may not be the hardiest of the puffers, and being scalesless they are epecially sensitive to nitrates and any nitrite and amonia so you did the right thing doing a water change, you could have never known this was going to happen but i guarentee that if you would have not done a water change and let the levels of nitrates or any nitrite or amonia build up then he would have eventually died from it!
and also if you never saw him poo you can not rule out things like internal parasite, which could have caused him to be even more sensitive than normal!
im sorry for your loss but you did the right thing so dont get discouraged about keeping fish or puffers! i lost a pair of exotic plecos when i first started and they were my first expensive fish and they both died after a week and a half and i almost gave up on fish keeping all together and i am so glad i didnt, i have found so much more fun with keeping fish since i kept going!
and also if you never saw him poo you can not rule out things like internal parasite, which could have caused him to be even more sensitive than normal!
im sorry for your loss but you did the right thing so dont get discouraged about keeping fish or puffers! i lost a pair of exotic plecos when i first started and they were my first expensive fish and they both died after a week and a half and i almost gave up on fish keeping all together and i am so glad i didnt, i have found so much more fun with keeping fish since i kept going!
60g with 2 angels, 1 yoyo loach, Upside down catfish, Clown Loach, 1 leopard Ctenopoma, 12 black skirt tetras and a L201 Pleco
30g GSP tank (soon to be 35 gal Hex)
30g GSP tank (soon to be 35 gal Hex)