Puffer wont eat

[Kimberleydg]

Hello. I have a spiny puffer that will not eat. I am really worried about him. I have had him about a week and have tried everything I can think of. Mysis shrimp, krill, snails, frozen squid. I dont know the normal swimming habits of puffers, but he just sits there doing nothing. Any ideas?

 

[rguyler]

Water parameters okay? Another fish bothering it? What about signs of disease? Basic troubleshooting questions to ask first.

Puffers are needless to say unique so this could be nothing to worry about. One thing you could try is adding a little garlic to the food. This is a common additive that for whatever reasons makes food more appetizing. Have you tried anything live? My LFS sells freshwater crayfish and fiddler crabs which are fairly cheap and would be irresistible to a healthy puffer in most cases.

Is this the first fish in the tank? I've had first fish that wouldn't show much interest in food until there was another fish in the tank. A little healthy competition for food isn't necessarily a bad thing.

HTH

 

[unleashed13]

are you stick feeding him? or just dropping the food in the tank.. a few things I did when I got my porc .. is yours a porc or the spiny boxfish puffer or burr fish?be sure you ph is at 8.2- 8.4 any lower than 8.2 my puffers have never eaten .. if its this fish http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+39+256&pcatid=256 feeding can be very difficult to get him to eat in captivity knows also as burrfish..feeds on copods when juvenile you may be able to offer it marine ghost shrimp be sure you have ample supply of snails and crabs for him as well if hes small you may have better luck with him eating these for a while until you can get him switched to prepared foods .small burr fish are more of the difficult fish to eat in captivity... the next image is a spiny boxfish puffer.. normal diet if shrimp krill scallops squid mysis once you get him adjusted to smaller prepared foods. hardier than the burrfish once you get him eating hes a pig

[/IMG] and then we have the porc puffer

same food diet as the spiny boxfish.. your basic meaty foods squid, shrimp/krill silverslides,scallops, halibut, flounder,octopus if you can find it,once it gets used to captive feeding mine will eat even cubed foods such as prime reef etc... I hope this helps

 

[MatthewLaw]

have you tried scallops and mussels? my dogface puffers loves those two foods!!

 

[Kimberleydg]

Lord... I dont know which one he is then. I was told he is a spiny puffer. But I am thinking more the procupine puffer. I will attach a picture.

The water parameters are good.
There are other fish in the tank and he wouldnt eat, so he is now in a small tank by himself. Still nothing.
I have been putting Garlic Guard on the food. No luck. Maybe he is eating while I'm not looking, but I don't think so.
So I guess I will go to the LFS and see if they have anything live I can try with him. Or the seafood section and buy something and cut it up?

He does have a white spot on his back. I noticed it the day after I brought him home. Everyone has been saying tit is probably just an injury or something? I really want him to make it. He is such a cutie.

Thank you for your help
<a href="http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y97/TreysMommie/?action=view&current=puffer034.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y97/TreysMommie/puffer034.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

[MatthewLaw]

hmm i would monitor that white splotch. i hope its not some sort of infection. have you considered prophylactic treatment?

 

[unleashed13]

thats the spiney boxfish not the burrfish ..which your lucky with..he will get more rounded as he grows a very docile fish ...well could be a loss of slime coat from transition to the captive life.. well hes in his own tank thats a good start..I dose all newcomers with melafix for 3 days.. this helps relieve stress,promote slime coat and help with any bacterial or fungal infections that they may have ..yes I use this stuff for everything, because its mild with no ill side effects that Is natural with no harsh chemicals. have seen no bad reactions in several yrs of use..how big is he about 2 inches?i see you have crushed coral with him thats a plus..they tend to pick up the small peices of rubble in their mouths and then spit them out.. mine did this all the time. helps keep teeth filed.. while hes not eating dose the tank with selcon he will get the nutrients from this through absorption of the gills you can also do the same thing with the garlic stuff your using.personally i prefer garlic extreme because its more concentrated than garlic guard.if you have noticed him picking at the cc on the bottom you may even want to try spectrum pellets..large pellets.. they sink to the bottom.. for now hes going to a nocturnal feeder until you get him adjusted to your feeding schedule for now try morning and night just before lights off.. if you have moonlights for that tank it would be good to use those this way you can view his movements in the dark..good prepackaged foods for him are as followed
squid yum yums, plankton cubes,mysis,frozen krill and prime reef,formula 1.. silverslides
store baught would be all raw . scallops,shrimp,squid ,halibut,flounder,real crab,try to feed him daily.. feel free to ask anything else on him..

 

[MatthewLaw]

on a side but related note, i had horrible results while dosing with melafix in hyposalinity. the fish seemed to be doing well in hypo in general but after adding the melafix, he started acting very strangely and was dead in an hour! reminds me of that prime + cupramine deadly combination!

 

[unleashed13]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15213150#post15213150 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MatthewLaw
on a side but related note, i had horrible results while dosing with melafix in hyposalinity. the fish seemed to be doing well in hypo in general but after adding the melafix, he started acting very strangely and was dead in an hour! reminds me of that prime + cupramine deadly combination!

i have never used cupramine and I don't hypo any fish..although many dissagree which is fine. I feel hypo to be more stressfull on fish that are already in a weakened state.in 7 yrs I have never lost a fish to ICH(knock on wood).other things yes but not ich

 

[MatthewLaw]

You have some serious luck!!!!! I kept feeding im my dt when I had an ick outbreak and the fish ate well for a dew weeks then died rather suddenly. So for me I will use hypo as soon as I see those dots.

 

[unleashed13]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15218797#post15218797 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MatthewLaw
You have some serious luck!!!!! I kept feeding im my dt when I had an ick outbreak and the fish ate well for a dew weeks then died rather suddenly. So for me I will use hypo as soon as I see those dots.

well it may be luck but what I have always done is if I see one spot on any fish I boost the feedings of all the fish.majority of my fish have been either aggressive or herbivores.the use of garlic extreme, selcon and good nutrition I think have played a large part in my success.in cases that I. have had to keep fish in QT I used coppersafe this was not because it had ich it was a delicate fish that cost me a 140 bucks and I wasn't taking any chances of losing it. I have used kick ich in my reef once.. I won't say it was a great product but I didn't lose any fish .there was no way of pulling out those fish and placing them in QT.. at that time I had 8 tanks set up largest being 300 gal smallest was 90..I housed 59 various species of fish in these 8 tanks.Plus corals.. I'm not saying I never lost fish..I lost several for one reason or another but just none to ick

 

[rguyler]

I'll agree 100% that nutrition is the key to long-term fish health and disease resistance. There will be cases where the disease/parasites are too aggressive for the fishes' immune system to ward it off but at least the fish is very healthy to withstand the treatment you might wind up having to through at the disease.