Help!! Sick Burrfish

[dragonzim]

I've got a burrfish in my 75 fish only aggressive tank. Tonight, as a treat, I fed the tank some cut up fresh scallops. As usualy the burrfish went nuts and ate quite a bit. Now, about 2 hours later I looked in the tank and saw that he seems to have thrown up all the scallop that he ate and is just sitting lethargically on the tank bottom. In the 10 minutes that I was just watching him he puffed up 3 times, held it for about a minute and then slowly deflated.
I think he is a yellow spot burrfish, but I am not sure. I tried to snap a few pics but of course he is facing the back of the tank and I couldnt get a pic of his face. Here's one fro mbehind though, just for ID's sake.
Can anyone tell me what may be wrong? Is he in trouble?

 

[dragonzim]

Bump

 

[norcal]

never heard of a burrfish. i think you should post this in the disease and treatment forum. beth will be able to help you. maybe a moderator could move this post for him??!! if they dont move it, just repost it over there

 

[gofish85]

a burrfish is another name for spiny box fish. these fish are from the carribean. that behavior is very weird. how long have you had this animal? i have seen newly introduced box fish do this because of stress but this one is eating.... i would turn the lights off and see if you can make a thread in the disease forum and talk to beth ..... i woul like to see what happens whith this.

 

[dragonzim]

I've had him for about 4 months or so. When I checked in the tank this morning he was up and swimming. I've never heard of a fish getting indigestion, but it really seems like that's what happened. I'll repost in the diesease forum anyway..
Thanks!

 

[kdfrosty]

Monitor his eating closely and make sure that he is not eating too much, and that you are not overfeeding the tank.

 

[unleashed]

check your ph level if mine drops below 8.2 he does the same thing.here is a pic of mine(spike).if you notice him looking more tail up he may need to be burped they do have a tendancy to suck up alot of air.this can be a painful proccess to you that is those spikes hurt lol.if you have protective gloves for use in tank thats your best bet.hold him upright the trapped air will float upwards out of his mouth you have to carefully massage his tummy while doing this.limit his food intakes during feeding time he may be gorging himself if your not feeding daily.check your water quality green blue hughs and slight hazing of his eyes are a few clue to him not feeling well.could be just as simple as water quality.

 

[kdfrosty]

Originally Posted by unleashed
check your ph level if mine drops below 8.2 he does the same thing.here is a pic of mine(spike).if you notice him looking more tail up he may need to be burped they do have a tendancy to suck up alot of air.this can be a painful proccess to you that is those spikes hurt lol.if you have protective gloves for use in tank thats your best bet.hold him upright the trapped air will float upwards out of his mouth you have to carefully massage his tummy while doing this.limit his food intakes during feeding time he may be gorging himself if your not feeding daily.check your water quality green blue hughs and slight hazing of his eyes are a few clue to him not feeling well.could be just as simple as water quality.
Are you serious? You burp your Spiny boxfish? Never heard of such a thing. what a loving parent you are.
just curious....does he use a bib and high chair too?

 

[kdfrosty]

Originally Posted by unleashed
check your ph level if mine drops below 8.2 he does the same thing.here is a pic of mine(spike).if you notice him looking more tail up he may need to be burped they do have a tendancy to suck up alot of air.this can be a painful proccess to you that is those spikes hurt lol.if you have protective gloves for use in tank thats your best bet.hold him upright the trapped air will float upwards out of his mouth you have to carefully massage his tummy while doing this.limit his food intakes during feeding time he may be gorging himself if your not feeding daily.check your water quality green blue hughs and slight hazing of his eyes are a few clue to him not feeling well.could be just as simple as water quality.
Are you serious? You burp your Spiny boxfish? Never heard of such a thing. what a loving parent you are.
just curious....does he use a bib and high chair too?

 

[unleashed]

yep im serious .when I fisrt purchsed this fish he puffed up big time from being netted the LFS owner showed me how to do it.I luaghed as he went ouch ouch ouch.

but I dont laugh as I say ouch ouch ouch lol.but i do adore my spike.from all of my reading this species of boxfish is not suposed to be one of the hardiest of fish.but unlike most boxfish he is not toxic when stressed or when dies. hes listed under the category of puffers for this reason alone(but his spikes never retract).I have had mine for about 6 months or so.he was previously owned and a trade in to my LFS when he came to the LFS his bag was bone dry his spikes popped the bag and let of of his water out .this fish traveled 30 min with no water at all id IMO id call this particular fish either extremly lucky or very hardy lol.but does tend to puff up when ticked off by my lunear wrasse.ps my lfs owner is a marine biolegist with certs to prove it.

 

[dragonzim]

He normally does eat quite a bit. I've taken to shooing him away from the food so that his tankmates can get a bite to eat. MY PH was around 7.8-8.0 whic I know is a little low. I've slowly been bringing it back up over the last few days.
Unleashed - He actually looks a bit different from yours. I've no doubt he is in the boxfish family but I havent seen anything online that looks exactly like him. I'll try and get some better pictures. Since he was swimming around OK this morning I'm sure he'll be back to his normal food begging self when I get home from work.

 

[unleashed]

he is known as the striped burrfish http://www.aqua.org/animals_stripedburrfish.html
do a sure on burrfish they are all also known as spiney boxfish.we have different color variations but basicly the same type of fish. from what I have researched about mine is he is an australian species. hopefully they will let me keep this info link for you long enough to check it out. I found now that im using RO/DO water my ph has been more of an issue keeping the levels up.

 

[dragonzim]

Thanks Unleashed. I think you've hit the ID on the head. I got a few better pics of him. Mine is named Mr. Pickles. (a slightly drunk friend of mine said he looked like a pickle and it stuck

)

 

[unleashed]

your very welcome and nice lion too, love both the species.those pics are much better hes almost as cute as spike lol