Porcupine Puffer Hiding, No Eating

[krose.forrest]

My porcupine puffer, that I've had for over 3 years, has gone on the occasional hunger strike but never for this long. There were a couple of days where he ate, but then went back into hiding in his cave and hasn't eaten anything in over 10 days when he used to come up and beg for food at dinner time every night. He doesn't come out to see us and we've tried peas for constipation as that has worked in the past. We have tried krill and raw shrimp (his favorite). He looks like he has a slight belly bulge but it doesn't seem to go down so I was wondering about parasites? I also see conflicting things about their teeth. Do they grow and need trimming? He won't eat snails so we get him clams every so often for him to try and grind his teeth down. But I am reading that their teeth don't continuously grow if in captivity on a mostly soft food diet, other people say you need to trim them. Does anyone have a picture of what overgrown teeth look like and what they should look like? I am going to try and get a pic of him as well, but he's been such a recluse I haven't been able to get any recently.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[MnFish1]

My porcupine puffer, that I've had for over 3 years, has gone on the occasional hunger strike but never for this long. There were a couple of days where he ate, but then went back into hiding in his cave and hasn't eaten anything in over 10 days when he used to come up and beg for food at dinner time every night. He doesn't come out to see us and we've tried peas for constipation as that has worked in the past. We have tried krill and raw shrimp (his favorite). He looks like he has a slight belly bulge but it doesn't seem to go down so I was wondering about parasites? I also see conflicting things about their teeth. Do they grow and need trimming? He won't eat snails so we get him clams every so often for him to try and grind his teeth down. But I am reading that their teeth don't continuously grow if in captivity on a mostly soft food diet, other people say you need to trim them. Does anyone have a picture of what overgrown teeth look like and what they should look like? I am going to try and get a pic of him as well, but he's been such a recluse I haven't been able to get any recently.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

I would consider things that aren't normal. I.e. did you introduce something new to the tank, or any other change. Curious - how big is your puffer? And any other information

 

[vetteguy53081]

My porcupine puffer, that I've had for over 3 years, has gone on the occasional hunger strike but never for this long. There were a couple of days where he ate, but then went back into hiding in his cave and hasn't eaten anything in over 10 days when he used to come up and beg for food at dinner time every night. He doesn't come out to see us and we've tried peas for constipation as that has worked in the past. We have tried krill and raw shrimp (his favorite). He looks like he has a slight belly bulge but it doesn't seem to go down so I was wondering about parasites? I also see conflicting things about their teeth. Do they grow and need trimming? He won't eat snails so we get him clams every so often for him to try and grind his teeth down. But I am reading that their teeth don't continuously grow if in captivity on a mostly soft food diet, other people say you need to trim them. Does anyone have a picture of what overgrown teeth look like and what they should look like? I am going to try and get a pic of him as well, but he's been such a recluse I haven't been able to get any recently.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Can be constipation, edema, water quality related or flukes as examples but first key to assessment is pics and especially videos under white light intensity.
Assure nitrate and ammonia has not climbed as well as salinity

 

[Jay Hemdal]

My porcupine puffer, that I've had for over 3 years, has gone on the occasional hunger strike but never for this long. There were a couple of days where he ate, but then went back into hiding in his cave and hasn't eaten anything in over 10 days when he used to come up and beg for food at dinner time every night. He doesn't come out to see us and we've tried peas for constipation as that has worked in the past. We have tried krill and raw shrimp (his favorite). He looks like he has a slight belly bulge but it doesn't seem to go down so I was wondering about parasites? I also see conflicting things about their teeth. Do they grow and need trimming? He won't eat snails so we get him clams every so often for him to try and grind his teeth down. But I am reading that their teeth don't continuously grow if in captivity on a mostly soft food diet, other people say you need to trim them. Does anyone have a picture of what overgrown teeth look like and what they should look like? I am going to try and get a pic of him as well, but he's been such a recluse I haven't been able to get any recently.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

It could possibly be overgrown teeth - but when that happens, the fish will still show an interest in food.
Can you post a video?

Jay

 

[krose.forrest]

It could possibly be overgrown teeth - but when that happens, the fish will still show an interest in food.
Can you post a video?

Jay

I haven’t been able to get good videos or images of him since he has gone into hiding into his cave and won’t come out at all unless the lights are out. I was able to snap these tonight.

 

[krose.forrest]

I would consider things that aren't normal. I.e. did you introduce something new to the tank, or any other change. Curious - how big is your puffer? And any other information

Nothing has changed. He is about 7-8” and has always been a bit of a picky (and lazy) eater. His tank size is 90 gallon and he’s the only fish in there. He also will come out of his cave only if all the lights are off, even the room the tank is in needs to be dim.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Nothing has changed. He is about 7-8” and has always been a bit of a picky (and lazy) eater. His tank size is 90 gallon and he’s the only fish in there. He also will come out of his cave only if all the lights are off, even the room the tank is in needs to be dim.

I can't tell - is the swelling on the belly a true swelling, or does it look like it is swollen because the stomach area in front of it is sunken?

In one photo, I can see what could be overgrown teeth.

Take a look at this thread, especially the fourth post down:

Trimming puffer beak??

Has anyone done this before? My dogface puffer has significantly overgrown beak to the point I'm worried about his ability to eat properly. Any tips/recs appreciated. Thanks!

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

 

[krose.forrest]

I can't tell - is the swelling on the belly a true swelling, or does it look like it is swollen because the stomach area in front of it is sunken?

In one photo, I can see what could be overgrown teeth.

Take a look at this thread, especially the fourth post down:

Trimming puffer beak??

Has anyone done this before? My dogface puffer has significantly overgrown beak to the point I'm worried about his ability to eat properly. Any tips/recs appreciated. Thanks!

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

Thank you so much for this resource! Question - it gives the amount of oil for a 4" and under but not for a larger puffer. Do you have a recommendation for a 7-8" big guy?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thank you so much for this resource! Question - it gives the amount of oil for a 4" and under but not for a larger puffer. Do you have a recommendation for a 7-8" big guy?

I use MS-222 and not clove oil, but the oil should be dosed by water volume, not fish size.

I should mention - I’m not 100% convinced that this is a tooth issue, that lump is suspicious.

Jay

 

[resortez]

Can be constipation, edema, water quality related or flukes as examples but first key to assessment is pics and especially videos under white light intensity.
Assure nitrate and ammonia has not climbed as well as salinity

I second this. Would help tons to run parameter numbers. By the pictures, looks like your system is in need of some maintenance, if the environment is not to their liking, the inhabitants will retreat & display behavior or symptoms similar to being ill. Put yourself in a similar setting where you must eat in a filthy room, the filth alone will make you sick, let alone have an appetite. Providing a clean & healthy environment is a massive part in keeping your fish healthy. I would check parameters first & if your reading are way too high, I recommend bringing them down in stages, not all at once. Extreme swings can also induce illnesses & crash the system. That my $0.02 based on the pictures. Good luck.

 

[krose.forrest]

I use MS-222 and not clove oil, but the oil should be dosed by water volume, not fish size.

I should mention - I’m not 100% convinced that this is a tooth issue, that lump is suspicious.

Jay

I will try to get better pics of him, but this puffer in this thread looks almost exactly like what mine does from what I can tell. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/porcupine-with-bulge-distress.960357/#post-11805538

 

[AydenLincoln]

Definitely strange and it could definitely be constipation or even possible to have air trapped inside he can’t get out although it seems less likely. I second doing some tank maintenance and testing. And I definitely would add some ghost shrimp or small crabs to entice him to eat as they are a tasty snack puffers can’t resist and part of their diet/behavior. I would consider pulling and quarantining him/treating him and worse case scenario would be force feeding him if he doesn’t eat soon. Overgrown teeth will be very obvious and look like this in severe cases which would require them to be drilled down and anesthetized. I don’t think that’s the issue though.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I will try to get better pics of him, but this puffer in this thread looks almost exactly like what mine does from what I can tell. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/porcupine-with-bulge-distress.960357/#post-11805538

I think my post there would stand in this case....

Jay

 

[krose.forrest]

I think my post there would stand in this case....

Jay

But things haven’t worked themselves out, he’s been like this for over two weeks. how do I feed him epsom salt especially if he’s not eating well?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

But things haven’t worked themselves out, he’s been like this for over two weeks. how do I feed him epsom salt especially if he’s not eating well?

That's the problem - oral Epsom salts only work for fish that are eating well. Adding Epsom salts to the water just doesn't work for marine fish (only for freshwater fish) since seawater already has a lot of magnesium chloride in it.

Sorry - I can't think of anything else to try here......

Jay