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Bad News......Good News

Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 3:33 pm
by ArunSenior04
Well, first the bad...

Here's the tank for both situations:
Set-up a year ago
25 Gallon w/ Sand substrate and plants
Tetra 20-40 Filter
Heater

A couple weeks ago, I bought a Cochinensis/Abei (still not even sure) viewtopic.php?f=37&t=18448 and brought it home. After maybe a day, I was able to get him to start eating (crushed snails, silverslides, bloodworms, etc) pretty easily. About a week and half ago, he stopped eating, and a few days later, he died. The water parameters all checked out fine (0-0-0), and in his last week of life, I was probably doing 50% WC every day. What I noticed, is that even though he hadn't eaten, he had a small lump on his stomach (as if he had eaten), for his entire last week. I thought about doing an autopsy, but I couldn't do it. It still stumps me cause it seemed like he was doing well. On the last day he was alive, I came home and found him stuck to the filter (still alive but weak.) After removing him, he died a few hours later.

Well, about three days ago, I went to the LFS to see about replacing my puffer, but they were all out of them. His replacement, a Congo puffer ($30.) Since yesterday, it seems like he has really settled down. He's even started burrowing into the sand. The part that is driving me crazy, is trying to feed it. I have tried prawn, silverslides, brine shrimp, bloodworms, and nightcrawlers to no avail. I saw him eat a bloodworm, but that was about it. I've tried soaking them in garlic with still no luck. Any suggestions?

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Re: Bad News......Good News

Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 5:44 pm
by pufferpuggirl
My Congo puffer loves mussels, try that. My girl will eat bloodworm, but she's preferable to mussels, and sometimes chopped up shrimp/prawn (the nice big plump ones).

I had some Congos that were picky, but thankfully my girl now is very good about eating and is getting to be a bit of a piglet. Whatever you do, do not make the mistake of putting anything else (fish) in the tank with your Congo, it will not be good.

Love your photos! :D

Re: Bad News......Good News

Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 6:32 pm
by Pufferpunk
OMG, sorry for the loss of your Abei! W/o an autopsy, my guess would be either a tumor or obstruction.

As far as feeding your Congo, there's an excellent artricle in our Library on how to get difficult puffers to eat.

Re: Bad News......Good News

Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 8:10 pm
by ArunSenior04
Thanks for the suggestions. I will try the mussel suggestion out. It seems like picky Congos seem to be a common subject.