The Puffer Forum

Ok, it's the same puffer. It's been 1 month (thereabouts), and he/she is still not eating. I'm worried. I've been "force-feeding" periodically by dangling a worm near the mouth, and sometimes it will eat when it gets irritated enough. But it hasn't made progress at all. Now it refuses to even try to grab the worm.

I've tried all kinds of food to no avail. Garlic juice, bloodworms, vitamins... no response. I moved it to its own tank yesterday, accompanied by two snails, but nope, the snails were still untouched today. Crushing the snails don't seem to work either.

Can someone please tell me why my puff is not responding to food?! It's really weird cos its very active and looks healthy. When it was in another tank with otos, it would chase the otos around, chase ghost shrimp, but just not eating them. It even tried to nip the tail of the oto. But nope, if it's food it is just simply not interested. I trimmed the teeth a month ago, I don't think it will regrow that quickly.

I'm going to be away from town soon, and really hope to solve the mystery before I go off. My mom sure isn't going to dangle a worm in front of the puffer for 15 minutes just to get it to eat.

It could be some form of internal parasite. As the worms grow, it may not be able to eat as much.

Do you see any red "fringe" like stuff near the fish's anus? If so, it could be camallanus worms. They're notorious for causing fish to try to eat, but then spit out, the food, and the color of the fish is often good until the end.

Levamisole or prazi-pro would be good choices for de-worming.

Naturally, since I'm not theere this is just a guess, but it seems like a possibility.

Eric

How am I going to deworm when it doesn't even eat anything?

It doesn't even try to eat. That's the problem. It has absolutely no interest in food... and no, there's no red fringe stuff near the anus

Are the incisors overgrown?

I can see them a little, but they don't look like vampires. I trimmed them just a month ago. Anyway, if they're overgrown, he'll at least try to eat the food, but spit it out or something? He doesn't even go near food....

For the last two days, she has been seen to frantically chase ghost shrimp around, trying to nip them. I think she's hungry. Unfortunately, she tends to attack the shrimp head on, and thus never succeeds in nabbing them. I tried to give her a hand, by semi- injuring one or two shrimp, but she ignores the injured ones. She also ignores the already dead shrimp. I'm at my wits end.

I finally managed to get hold of the LFS which I bought her from, and they said that she was fed live and frozen bloodworms mainly. Ok, so I got hold of some live bloodworms, but she ignores them totally. Still busy chasing shrimp....

Growing thinner and thinner, I'm quite afraid she won't make it through the week.

have you tried garlic scent? its garlic oil or something and is almost irresistible to puffers.

kinda like women and chocolate puffer love this stuff when you mix it with food.


if it works you may want to watch your fingers. generally they go bananas

0-0)

Hmm... I tried manually squeezing raw garlic juice, it didn't work. Unless you're talking about commercial stuff, then I've never tried it. Anyway, this is a pic of its teeth. Can someone tell me if it needs trimming... thanks.

id see if you cant trim it on the bottom. I can see its teeth too well. try a clip again and then throw in the sacraficial shrimp.

Yikes.. another teeth trimming. Would you suggest using clove oil then? I'm worried that it's weak cos it hasn't been eating. Even though it doesn't give signs of being weak. It was flying across the tank the whole day chasing shrimp... albeit unsuccessfully.

Looks a bit long in the tooth to me. I have trimmed w/o clove oil, although I snipped off it's top lip, cause it was so squirmy. There's also a chance of it puffing w/air.

I'll give it a shot later today. Wish me good luck... Your puff is so nice and chubby. I only wish mine would put on some weight. He/she is such a doll, and I just can't bear thinking of it starving to death...

Alright, I've trimmed the teeth. Now I can no longer see the teeth from the front, and thank goodness, no lip was cut off.

It is still not eating. It seems to have stopped chasing shrimp also. I've no longer any idea what to do. It has such a willpower to live that it seems almost a tragedy to just give up on it. Despite not having eaten for a week at least, it is still swimming around actively. I do not understand my fish.

give it a try with the commerciasl garlic oil and drizzle it on thawed food or even over live ghost shrimp in a bit of water. it should attarch attention.

as a last resort you might try force feeding..."If his teeth are OK, I would try force feeding. Get a plastic syringe and fill it with some mashed up food. Catch your little guy, insert the syringe, and push a small amount into his belly. Make sure this is all done under water, and only a small amount as to not over fill him. It might be wise to add a vitamin to the food mash too." i don't like re-quoting myself, but it may help.