Puffer doesn't like lights and won't eat

[porcpuf]

I have had a puffer before but I have never had this problem. I have had this puffer for about a week now and he does not seem to like the lights. He will be swimming fine and withing an hour of turning the lights on he sits on the bottom. He will stay on the bottom until the lights go out and then within an hour he will start swimming again. I am also having a problem getting him to eat. I have tried everything, brine shrimp, bloodworms, krill, grocery shrimp, scallops, and ghost shrimp. He did eat 3 ghost shrimp two days ago but that is it the whole time I have had him. He is really looking skinny and I'm worried he is not going to make it. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[clown4life]

is he running into things? mine did this a couple of days ago . Wans't eating, liying on the bottom, and running into things. So I took him to the petstore to get Qurantined. His eyes looked a little cloudy too how about yours?. They said he either scratched his eye of had a bactoria infection

 

[porcpuf]

No he hasn't been bumping into things but when he does swim he is slow about it and never gets excited like every other puffer I have ever seen. Today all he has done is lay there, lights don't make a difference, and it seems like he is breathing heavy. There is a Damsel, Clownfish, and Lawnmower Blenny in there doing fine. The puffer I would consider a baby he only about 2 maybe 2 1/2 inches long. The tank is about 6 months old. I did a 20% water change last night.
PH 7.8
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
nitrate 10

 

[grouperlover]

ooooooooooooooooh ive had fish that do that and thats normally a sign of there about to die or you need to maybe do a water change and check water quality

 

[porcpuf]

About 45 minutes ago I noticed he was swimming around with the lights off. I let him swim around for about 20 minutes and decided to see if he would eat. I turned on the lights for about five minutes and then tried some ghost shrimp and he finally ate, two of them. Maybe a good sign I hope!

 

[clown4life]

I hope so .good luck . There is always hope

 

[kjr_trig]

You need to get your PH up gradually (over about a weeks time) to about 8.3 IMO....How big is the tank? Puffers can be a little slow to eat at first, mine would only eat freeze dried krill for the first week or so, I slowly weened him off it to a regular diet. Are you using garlic? Try a fresh clam opened for him.

 

[slackjawed]

Originally Posted by PorcPuf
http:///forum/post/2624597
About 45 minutes ago I noticed he was swimming around with the lights off. I let him swim around for about 20 minutes and decided to see if he would eat. I turned on the lights for about five minutes and then tried some ghost shrimp and he finally ate, two of them. Maybe a good sign I hope!
i bet he would eat a live rosie

 

[porcpuf]

He stayed active most of the night last night. I did try a small rosie which he ate after a few minutes. He has been swimming all morning so far. Just got back from the store getting some more ghost shrimp. I am trying to feed him several small meals a day to see if he continues to improve.
I will work on getting the PH up as suggested and see how things go. I would love to try the clam but no one around here has any and I can't afford an online order right now so we will have to wait for that one. Thanks everyone for your help.