kristen chan
New Member
My porcupine puffer has not eaten today, and had little interest of food yesterday. For the past couple of days, he's just been floating in the tank, occasionally lying down. However, today, he's been lying down at the back of the tank behind some rocks. He's breathing just a tad bit too hard, and it almost looks like he has the hiccups.
We've tried to get him to swim, but he seems to be struggling. He was almost wiggling on the ground.
About two weeks back, we went on a short vacation, for about 4 days and had a relative feed the little porcupine. (We've been feeding it frozen sheets of shrimp.) When we came back, we noticed he had white spots on his back, and some on his fin. We assumed it was ich, and we left him to heal for a few days to see if he could get better on his own. At that time, he was swimming fine, up and down, all over the tank. His appetite was great, he was even spitting water for food. Though a few days later, the other puffer kept in the same tank, a dogface, died due to what I think was a bacterial infection. The porcupine seemed to kind of cuddle with him, even though the dogface didn't like it. After Dogface's death, the porcupine would just float around the tank. His appetite decreased (if that makes sense), until he hasn't been eating at all. We tried feeding him what we normally do (the frozen shrimp sheets) and tried feeding it frozen krill, but he had no interest. He is now the only fish in the tank. Because of his ich we dipped him (after we tried feeding), and now he's been at the bottom of the tank ever since. We added the bubble pump (or whichever you call it) in the tank to maybe gain his interest.
The tank is 100 gallons, and perhaps a little lonely for only a three- four inch puffer. We have LR in it, with a wet and dry filter system. The water conditions is all right, but it certainly isn't the best. The nitrite is between 0-.25 i believe, and about the same for ammonia. PH is 8.2 the last time I checked. A few days ago, the nitrite levels were around 0, same for ammonia.
Could it be possible that he is stressed from the death of Dogface? Or stressed from the dipaway? It's been around maybe 6-7 hours since we dipped him. Or is it the water levels? waTer changes wont help either
We've tried to get him to swim, but he seems to be struggling. He was almost wiggling on the ground.
About two weeks back, we went on a short vacation, for about 4 days and had a relative feed the little porcupine. (We've been feeding it frozen sheets of shrimp.) When we came back, we noticed he had white spots on his back, and some on his fin. We assumed it was ich, and we left him to heal for a few days to see if he could get better on his own. At that time, he was swimming fine, up and down, all over the tank. His appetite was great, he was even spitting water for food. Though a few days later, the other puffer kept in the same tank, a dogface, died due to what I think was a bacterial infection. The porcupine seemed to kind of cuddle with him, even though the dogface didn't like it. After Dogface's death, the porcupine would just float around the tank. His appetite decreased (if that makes sense), until he hasn't been eating at all. We tried feeding him what we normally do (the frozen shrimp sheets) and tried feeding it frozen krill, but he had no interest. He is now the only fish in the tank. Because of his ich we dipped him (after we tried feeding), and now he's been at the bottom of the tank ever since. We added the bubble pump (or whichever you call it) in the tank to maybe gain his interest.
The tank is 100 gallons, and perhaps a little lonely for only a three- four inch puffer. We have LR in it, with a wet and dry filter system. The water conditions is all right, but it certainly isn't the best. The nitrite is between 0-.25 i believe, and about the same for ammonia. PH is 8.2 the last time I checked. A few days ago, the nitrite levels were around 0, same for ammonia.
Could it be possible that he is stressed from the death of Dogface? Or stressed from the dipaway? It's been around maybe 6-7 hours since we dipped him. Or is it the water levels? waTer changes wont help either
