DP's looking frail and skinny....

[StingrayKid]

My Dwarf Puffers are look very skinny in their stomach area, and I feed them every other day with frozen brime shrimp. It looks like their bent in half allmost? Anyone know if this is normal?

 

[Rory the cat]

Sounds like it could possibly be internal parasites - quite common with puffers.
Touch wood I've never had to deal with them - but I am sure someone on here will be able to advise you. I imagine the LFS must stock medicine to deal with this.

 

[StingrayKid]

Its strange because she is eating right. I think that she could have been hungry.

 

[SirMinion]

I feed ours every day (sometimes twice) with a range of things. Brineshrimp alone is not nutritious enough. Feed more often and add bloodworm, snails & daphnia to the diet.

Don't worry if you can't get tiny snails, she won't have a problem!

 

[StingrayKid]

The thing is though, mine wont eat snails. I will feed them some bloodworms though. Do they have to be live?

 

[SirMinion]

No. they do not need to be live. frozen is fine, but not dried. Mine won't touch dried.

If you can get live, then they will love you forever.

 

[StingrayKid]

Thanks!

 

[jsescher25]

No. they do not need to be live. frozen is fine, but not dried. Mine won't touch dried.

If you can get live, then they will love you forever.

Also try live black worms or frozen mysis shrimp all my puffers seen to like that.

 

[StingrayKid]

Cool, I'll see if I can get those.

 

[SirMinion]

Also try live black worms or frozen mysis shrimp all my puffers seen to like that.

Yep. It's all good.

I swear I spend more time thinking of new things to feed my fish, than I spend thinking of things to feed myself & ladyMinion!

 

[StingrayKid]

I discovered an empty snail shell today! I'm feel more easy about my puffers. Two of them are looking great, but one female is looking very frail. She kinda looks like she's bent at the middle...

 

[SirMinion]

She kinda looks like she's bent at the middle...

Sounds like an internal paracite. Wild caught puffers often carry them and the stress of relocation suppreses the puffers resistance and the paracites take over.
She may not last much longer. Sorry.

 

[StingrayKid]

Crap, and I ordered her online, so I payed a bunch for shipping. I Hope she can get over it. Will my male and female be okay with her gone?(I mean territory wise) And, is there anything I can do for her?

 

[LadyMinion]

Will my male and female puffers be okay with her gone?(I mean territory wise) And, is there anything I can do for her?

They should be fine. If anything, they'll be happier with a little extra room just for themselves.

Have you treated her with anything? If possible, quarantine her in a seperate tank and add a little salt to the water. Unless you know for certain that it is internal parasites, I wouldn't recommend specific meds.

That said, Melafix can be a wonderful general tonic.

 

[StingrayKid]

Would malafix be okay on my other puffers? And, how do I know for sure that it's parasites?