HELP! Porcupine acting strange
Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2014 11:02 pm
Hey everyone, I'm new tp the forum as well as new to owning fish. Here are the answers to the red questions:
1) pH 7.7, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0-0.5 (test strip, I know it's not accurate, but it's all I have right now), Nitrate 0-20 ppm & salinity was tested by my LFS & they said it was good (don't have a test for that yet)
2) Tank 24g - 1 porcupine puffer, live rock, & live sand (I know I will need a bigger tank as he grows, and I plan to upgrade to a much larger tank, but he is only 1.75 - 2 inches now)
3) Eats 1 - 2 times per day table shrimp and muscles, also "color enhancing pellets" every other day (as recommended by LFS). He has also tried brine shrimp, but has not had any since he began acting strange. Water has been changed once since the puffer was added 6 days ago.
4) No major changes, tank is pretty new, 2 - 2 1/2 weeks, used bio-spira before I placed "Pickles" my puffer in & they LFS said that he would be fine. Since then Diotomes have formed & before I knew what they were I cleaned most out of the tank. They have of course come back again. I did a 20% water change when the tank was cleaned 3 days ago (scrubbed the rocks & cleaned the sand as well as water).
5) As stated before the tank is new, only 2-2 1/2 weeks old and I was told that it would be ok to add fish after adding bio-spira.
My porcupine puffer was definitely over fed his 2nd day with me, however since then has been acting very lethargic (last 3-4 days). He was lying on the bottom of the tank in the sand, tail curled, and color changed to a very pale tanish color. Since then I read that he may be constipated and I fed him peas as a solution. He seemed to feel much better after eating and expelling the peas, and has since then been swimming normally until today, however his color has not returned to the way it was when I purchased him from the LFS. This morning he seemed to be sleeping in the corner, but quickly woke up when I turned the lights on and he noticed that I was standing in front of the tank. Up until a few hours ago he has been swimming normally and has not seemed lethargic at all, but in the last hour or so he has curled up in a corner (his color is still an almost grey color and his striped are very pale, however I cannot see a stress line on him and his belly is still white except for one spot which appears to be somewhat grey). I don't know what it wrong with him. The LFS said that the pH would be ok and it is better to have it low than high, but I don't know what's causing his color to be so off. Please help!!
1) pH 7.7, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0-0.5 (test strip, I know it's not accurate, but it's all I have right now), Nitrate 0-20 ppm & salinity was tested by my LFS & they said it was good (don't have a test for that yet)
2) Tank 24g - 1 porcupine puffer, live rock, & live sand (I know I will need a bigger tank as he grows, and I plan to upgrade to a much larger tank, but he is only 1.75 - 2 inches now)
3) Eats 1 - 2 times per day table shrimp and muscles, also "color enhancing pellets" every other day (as recommended by LFS). He has also tried brine shrimp, but has not had any since he began acting strange. Water has been changed once since the puffer was added 6 days ago.
4) No major changes, tank is pretty new, 2 - 2 1/2 weeks, used bio-spira before I placed "Pickles" my puffer in & they LFS said that he would be fine. Since then Diotomes have formed & before I knew what they were I cleaned most out of the tank. They have of course come back again. I did a 20% water change when the tank was cleaned 3 days ago (scrubbed the rocks & cleaned the sand as well as water).
5) As stated before the tank is new, only 2-2 1/2 weeks old and I was told that it would be ok to add fish after adding bio-spira.
My porcupine puffer was definitely over fed his 2nd day with me, however since then has been acting very lethargic (last 3-4 days). He was lying on the bottom of the tank in the sand, tail curled, and color changed to a very pale tanish color. Since then I read that he may be constipated and I fed him peas as a solution. He seemed to feel much better after eating and expelling the peas, and has since then been swimming normally until today, however his color has not returned to the way it was when I purchased him from the LFS. This morning he seemed to be sleeping in the corner, but quickly woke up when I turned the lights on and he noticed that I was standing in front of the tank. Up until a few hours ago he has been swimming normally and has not seemed lethargic at all, but in the last hour or so he has curled up in a corner (his color is still an almost grey color and his striped are very pale, however I cannot see a stress line on him and his belly is still white except for one spot which appears to be somewhat grey). I don't know what it wrong with him. The LFS said that the pH would be ok and it is better to have it low than high, but I don't know what's causing his color to be so off. Please help!!