The Puffer Forum

1) pH - 8.3
NH3/NO2 - 0
NO3 - 5 (5 out of tap)
very hard Freshwater

2)180 gallon- 1 fahaka around 1.5" long
crayfish tank plumbed in with the tank / sump

3) Was fed 1-2 times a day. Was eating bloodworms, ghost shrimp, snails, market shrimp, clams, mussels, earthworms. ~30 percent water change weekly.
Melafix was used a couple weeks ago, because I noticed a scrape on his body. seachem metroplex used to treat IPs, last used over a week ago.

4)Recent changes- added new plants 2 weeks ago.

4) Aquarium has been set up for a about 4 months. It was fishless cycled using pure ammonia. Has been cycled for about 2 months.

I got the fahaka just over a month ago. He was around 3/4 inch long, in great shape. Was taking frozen foods right away. After the first week he was greeting us at the front glass and pretty active. One day I came home to find him in the overflow chamber in the corner of the aquarium. After then he was very thin between feedings and had stringy poo. So I used Seachem metroplex (metronidazole) to soak his food in. He would only eat snails soaked in it. Fed him a few good meals soaked in the meds, then went away for a weekend and he didnt eat for 2 days. He looked fine after those 2 days- not too thin. So I stopped meds. He continued to have stringy poo but wasnt fading away between feedings. So I held off on the meds. Late last week we was less active, but still eating fine. Monday he didnt eat, not interested in live snails tossed in front of him, so I went and bought live blackworms which he ate. Tuesday, Wednesday and today he has not eaten. Doesnt even look at the live blackworms placed in front of him...

I am not sure what else I can do except to continue to try and get him to eat and do more frequent water changes....

Any input or suggestions are appreciated.

I know how helpless this must make you feel. I've had my share of disease & massive fish deaths this past year. Is he breathing, swimming normally?

Sorry to hear that PP.

He seems to be breathing normally. And when he does swim around it seems normal. He has been spending most of his time laying on the sand (which gets stirred and vacuumed weekly) or rocks. Or hiding in java moss. I just did a water change and he was swimming around a bit.

Sometimes they just go on hunger strikes. Try live earthworms.

I had been digging them up in my yard but it has been so dry lately I couldn't find any yesterday after digging several holes. I'll stop by a bait shop for some today.

If he was active and acting as he normally did, then I wouldn't be too concerned about him not eating...

Hi Kass I had similar fahaka difficulties recently here is the thread it might help http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/vie ... =3&t=35628

Prazantiquel in food was the final step.

Pokeystar- was it Prazi or metro you used last?

I bought some API general cure. It's ingredients are metro and Prazi. My plan was to try that. But he stopped eating before I could try it.

However, he just ate a ghost shrimp. Dropped it in front of his face and he couldn't resist it. He was a little slower than usual chasing it, but he was chasing it around.

Prazi was last. But it's been incremental improvements with differing approaches

Have you tried soaking his food in garlic?

I soak all his food in fresh (frozen) pressed garlic. Maybe I'll pick up some garlic guard, it might have a stronger smell to it.

He is still only interested in live shrimp... would live shrimp (cherry and ghost) soak up any meds?

Does anyone feed live leeches to their aquarium fish? These are usually available at bait shops around here and I was thinking of seeing if he'd be interested in them.

Soak flakes in meds & feed the flakes to the shrimp.

Metro or Prazi won't kill the shrimp? They are in same tank as snails...?

Don't feed all of them. Set up a separate container, clean but never having had detergents near it. Place the amount of shrimp you want to feed with the med soaked food.

I have an empty 3 gallon tank I will set up. Thanks.

Update:
I offered live shrimp that had consumed medicated flake food. But he no longer was interested in the shrimp. Monday he had a small bite of clam.
Today he is much more active, swimming around and acting as if he's hunting for food but he will swim by a snail and glance at it and not eat it. And he'll see a cherry shrimp and approach it but give no effort to catch it. He did eat a couple bites of medicated clam and market shrimp, and some blackworms.