Salinity- 1.02, I can get the other numbers if necessary, but considering the double water change below, I don't think the numbers are bad.
Tank size- 35 gallons with one 3 inch GSP (not including tail), he's around five years old.
Water change- 12/31 (normal 50% change), then again in 1/3 (emergency to lower temp, probably another 50%)
This tank has been set up for a year.
Last Monday, my GF saw my GSP was very listless and found the tank felt very warm to the touch. (A thermometer showed the temp was around 100 degrees). We immediately got the puffer out of there and used ice in ziplock to lower the temperature, but we also had to change about half of the water to get back to around 80 degrees. We don't know how long he'd been in the hot water.
Afterward, he had what appeared to be diarrhea (mucous-like poo) and looked in very bad shape. He ate a little the next day, but then looked very upset afterwards. I think he had a very upset stomach because he had the diarrhea again. He's looking better now, but he sleeps all the time. Yesterday, he was up and about for a short amount of time with a white belly and green top. He tires very quickly and has to lie back down and rest. He's up again right now staying close to the surface.
At this point, he hasn't eaten in about five days. I've offered shrimp and krill, then both again with garlic, but he doesn't want to eat. Is there anything I can do to make him more comfortable and get him to eat?
GSP overheated, how to help recover?
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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Re: GSP overheated, how to help recover?
I have both cooked & frozen my poor fish. The survivors were fine after I got the temps back to normal. I didn't remove the fish, as I thought the temp change would be too shocking. Both times I caught the mistake right away (doing WC either with all hot or all cold water from the hose). I'm not sure how long he was sitting in this temp, so IDK what 100 degrees will do to his internal organs after time. Try a live earthworm.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"