dwarf puffer

[elmj]

my dwarf puffers have aturned lerthargic! they don't seem excited to see their food anymore (they use to rushed up and peer at me when i look into their tank!). the smaller one has also turned a darker shade most of them time. they are still both eating though. just without their usual enthusism. so three questions

1) what do these dwarf puffers normally do? do they swim around looking curiously at everything? or do they just stay in one spot occassionally moving around? i wonder cause my puffer has been staying in one spot, occasionally moving to get some food or moving to get out of each others way. so is this common or is it because my tank is too small? should i then go and get a bigger tank for them?

2) what else do they eat? i tried frozen worms and frozen brine shrimp and ghost shrimps. they eat non of this. they will only eat blood worms! anything else they swallow it then realise its not red worms then spit it right back out! so i think they are not getting enought of a variety of food! so could someone recommand something else?

3) how do you tell apart from a female?

thanks!

edited: also my larger puffer seems to have this thin wiggly red line starting from the tail to the base of the tail. is this any cause for concern?

edit2: what colour are these puffers when they are healthy and happy?

 

[TKOS]

Well right before my puffer died their spots turned really dark and they became quite lethargic.

Other things that puffers eat? Well snails of course! See if you can get some from your LFS.

Are your puffers full bodied or do they have a big head and eyes and skinny body and tail? The skinnier they are the sicker they tend to be.

 

[elmj]

TKOS: thanks for the reply!

my puffer is full body! quite fat actually i tend to feed them very small amounts perhaps 4-5 times a day. they would normally swim up to me and await my dropping in of the food. but now they just turn their eyes towards me and wait for the food to drop in before going for it.

could it be a case of over feeding?

 

[TKOS]

If they are nice and plump you could probably cut back those feedings. It is hard to not feed when those big eyes stare at you.

 

[elmj]

TKOS: i agree that its hard to resist! and now they no longer do that i miss it. i'm also getting a little worried. my lfs recommanded me to put in this general medicine commonly refered to as yellow powder. its by a jap company. do you have any idea about how it works? according to my lfs it cures all external parasites including fin rot etc. after adding it in, my tank is a pale yellow colouring. the smaller puffer seems better but the older one seems to have taken a turn for the worst. it hasn't eaten since last night after the adding of the general medicine. when i use to put food in, they would rush after it. now only the small one does it. the older one just swims away. he's also gotten slightly thinner from his usual plump body.

what should i do now?

 

[TKOS]

I have no idea what yellow powder is. Maybe it is something like tea tree oil or something, a generally anti fungus. I doubt that would have hurt him though.

When mine went it was fast. One day all happy and eating. 2 days later and a floating fish and dark in colour. I don't know what you can do to help them. Sorry to say that. Maybe Orion Girl will chime in soon as she keeps these little guys as well.

 

[SBA]

Hi elmj,

It seems to be a common theme this with various different puffers. A similar thing happened with two F8s that I had. I think I know that the reason for it was (to summarise) incorrect tank conditions.

I couldn't find a way to stop it once they had stopped feeding, but if it happened again...

I would test every aspect of the tank I could (the usual tests).

Do small, frequent water changes with conditioned, aged water.

Make sure there is no salt in the water (I remember a thread on here saying how sensitive these fish are to salt). Edit: to clarify I mean the dwarf puffers not the F8s I had)

Could there be any toxins in the tank (contamination from cleaning etc)?

Erm, running out of ideas now. I have had success with feeding fussy puffers LIVE brine shrimp. They are not good long term (nutritionally), but I have SA puffer that was a bit fussy and would only eat live BS for a while (and bloodworms). Frozen ones were rejected but not live ones. I gut load the BS with vitamins to increase their value.

One of my SAs got 'backed up' which stoped it from being so keen on it's food for a day or so. It cleared the blockage itself and all was well. Is the tummy on yours smooth, or does it have any unusually large lumps?

 

[OrionGirl]

Defintely overfeeding--I feed my tank once every other day, and add snails once a week. The snails are very important--these guys have a beak, and without crunchy foods, it will overgrow and prevent them from eating at all. The juveniles are frequently hard to feed--mine would only eat snails and live brine shrimp (gutloaded with a healthy veggie/plankton mix).

Puffers, like most fish, will feed all the time, but this can cause problems. They will eat more than they can digest, and the undigested food causes problems internally--it starts to rot, and eventually kills them. So overfeeding is very bad. While I agree that puffers should never be allowed to get shrunken tummies, they should also not look bloated and round constantly. Mine get bulgy tummies after a meal, then return to the club shaped bodies, tummies just a bit bigger than the main body. Mine are always active, inspecting plants or gravel for the ocassional brave and doomed snail.

What are your water parameters? The dwarves are sensitive to salt--should be pure FW, with regular water changes and a stable pH. Mine have gone from about 7.4 to 6.8 (gradual change, not a sudden one!) with no problems, but sudden changes of any kind can cause them stress--visible change to a plae color, and the dark tummy. I change water weekly, and have planted tanks to help kepp water quality in the green.

I don't know what the powder was, and my rule is not to add anything to my tank that I can't identify. Yes, puffers are prone to internal parasites, but this would be apparent rapidly--they would not get healthy tummies with worms. Additives to the water are seldom effective treatments for internal parasites--it's a long way from the water column to the gut.

 

[elmj]

TKOS: sorry for the lost of your fish. thanks for all your advice!

orionGirl, SBA: my tank is purely freshwater in fact, the tank is only for these two puffers! i specially set up this tank for them because my lfs had sold them to me telling me then it was okay to put them in a community tank. but it was not and soon my tetras were seen with nipped fins! so i had to go and get a seperate tank for them and i'm so glas i did! i really love them!
water parameters should be fine (i only have the pH test kit now so my pH is seven) because the water from my home tap is neutral and free of almost everything. i do use anti-chlorine still though. i change my water weekly too and have plants in there to break the line of vision so the two would feel more comfortable.

orionGirl, what do you mean why you say they turn a pale colour? my puffers' tummy is not dark but off what. however, they do not exhibit bold colours(meaning very black 'spots' or bright yellow background). they only do that when they are afraid. mine is more of a gold-yellow back ground with with faint black spots. is this normal. thanks for your advice on overfeeding! i'll be sure to cut back now!

thanks for all the help!

 

[OrionGirl]

Mine are normally very boldly colored, with distinct spots and a yellowish tinge on most of their body--the tummy is a creamy white. When they are stressed, the tummy turns very dark, and the spots fade away.

Here's a pic of one of mine.