Why isn't my Porcupine eating??

[Roly]

I've had my porcupine puffer for about a year and a half and have never had problems with him. However now he refuses to eat. He gets excited whenever I go near the tank as if he were hungry. When I open up the glass on top of the tank to feed the other fish, he goes nuts as he usually does when its feeding time. But he just wont eat. He goes for it (F.D Krill, and frozen, and silversides) and he bites at it, but wont eat it. It almost seems like it won't fit in his mouth but it did before!? In fact I would feed him the larger ones. I bought new krill and silversides to see if that would help but it didn't. He looks fine, he doesn't look sick, he's active, tested water and it's fine, he doesn't seem stressed. I've tried feeding him oysters a while back but they were just too messy. Anyone know what's goin' on? Thanks in advance.

 

[loohunter]

did he eat the oysters? i am thinking he has some internal parasite or something.

 

[Roly]

He did but that was about a year ago. I can't figure it out. He has always eaten very well.

 

[loohunter]

i would be very careful doing that. if you buy fresh food for your fish you need to freeze it for i believe two weeks to kill any parasites in the food. it could deffinatley be an internal parasite. is there any way to get a picture up for lee? this might help in the diagnosis

 

[Roly]

I don't have a camera. Believe it or not I drop my camera in the toilet! I know that sounds funny....long story....wasn't taking a picture of anything I promise! Anywho... He looks fine though. He looks healthy and is swimming just fine. If it is a parasite, what can I do? Any advise?

 

[Herefishyfishy]

I believe Lee would require a lot more info to offer suggestions. Tank size, temp, salinity, PH. nitrates. flow, rock, filtration, tankmates, how long since last food taken, any new changes to the system, any new behaviour, getting skinny or fat before it quit eating, etc. Pics might not hurt

 

[leebca]

It's not uncommon for Puffers to go on a hunger strike. It may still be an intestinal disorder as others have mentioned and a treatment for de-worming is one approach.

Just be sure the fish can eat. Look for injury in the mouth area.

As originally written, this is not uncommon for Puffers in general. They will usually begin to eat again on their own. Keep up the pattern of providing food.

If it isn't any of the above, it is stress. This fish requires a large aquarium and I don't remember the size aquarium it is in. So if not space stress, look towards water quality, although under the circumstances of your description, I would put water quality on the bottom of the list of likely causes.

 

[loohunter]

we have to be very careful making medical suggestions. i was looking through lee's stickys last night and i would think maracyn two would be a good choice for meds. since it works on both external and internal bacterial infections. the problem is i dont know how the fish will react to this med.also can it be treated in the display? or does it need qt? these things i cant tell you. i'm just a guy in front of a key board that realy likes puffer fish and dosen't want to read about it dying. hopefuly lee reads this soon. in the meantime i would list as minfo as you possibly can about the tank and maybe set up for qt. also read through some of the sticky's and get a few of the suggested meds just so they are on hand.best of luck to you and your fish

 

[loohunter]

oops im a slow typer

 

[Roly]

Thanks evryone. I have a FOWLR tank. It's 110 gal. I only have three fish: my puffer, sailfin tang, and a copperband butterfly fish. I do 10% water changes every week. (I know it should be 20% but water quality is always good becuase I've never had that many fish.) UV sterilizer, NW Octopus Skimmer, two Power Heads. Temp at 78 ish.
I will continue to try and feed it. Hopefully he will. Should I start looking to medicate? If it's a parasite could my other fish have it?

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Best to tempt it occationally with small delicious foods and see if it surprises you. Maybe add a little garlic, Boyd Vita-chem, selcon, or other food suppliments to its food to add temptation. Assuming the tank is in good shape, the fish is healthy and its mouth isn't injured, should start back eating soon enough.

Hold off on meds until confirmation of a problem

 

[leebca]

A fish that stops eating in of itself is not cause for any particular kind of treatment, unless it is something you want to do. The fish could have been poisoned from capture or anywhere down the line. The fish could not be 'taking' to captive life. There is quite a list. I'm looking for the items on that list with the greatest probability, and something you have some control over.

A pathogen or parasites are possible, but you have had this fish for quite some time. Have you added any marine life recently to the system? How long have those other fishes been in there?

Usually a pathogen or parasite doesn't just suddenly show up. There are a couple of disease agents that do linger and wait for an opportunity to infect or work on a fish to overcome it, but your system is understocked, fairly well cared for, and in most other respects doing fine. A fish with reduced stress should not have a problem to deal with the lingering ones, so unless you've introduced something in the system recently, I can't see a good enough reason to perform any treatment.

Consider this a hunger strike until any other symptom shows itself.