Help! Figure 8 puffer pacing and not eating

[piffpuffer]

I just got one F8 puffer as my first puffer, still juvenile, around 2cm in size.

I've just gotten a 10 gallon for him so the water hasn't been cycled yet, since it's new. There's aragonite sand as substrate, a heater that maintains the temperature at 24-26C and I've done water conditioning and added bacteria to the filter and left it overnight. Started the tank with Microbe-Lift Xtreme Water Conditioner and Microbe-Lift Nite-Out II Starter bacteria.
Hasn't been cycled yet, so the water test isn't surprising:
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 2
Nitrate - 40
Used the Aquarium Lab Multi-Test Kit.
I haven't started adding marine salt yet so SG is still at 1.000 (plan to raise it to 1.005). Will drip-acclimatise him when water has been cycled.
I'm planning to start the fishless cycle today.

So I have the F8 in a 'quarantine' tank. I brought him back early from the fish shop just because the conditions there were horrid and they weren't feeding them well, all the puffers had no bellies! he seemed the most active so I decided to bring him back last night to get some food in him. The tank is about a little below half the 10 gal tank, and I used the tank water from the store (freshwater). There's a small sponge filter and he paced around for about 2 hours before finally calming down, I also put up black sheets against two sides of the tank and it seemed to help a bit. I know it's really small and I don't like it, I didn't have much options and the store tank was smaller. I had this tank empty intended for keeping shrimp so I used it. I gave him three small snails and he hasn't touched them yet. I tried again this morning with thawed bloodworms, didn't eat them, he's been pacing and darting around all morning. He stays still at the bottom as a 'break' from pacing and darting then goes back to it. He had normal poop last night but today morning I found a longer stringy translucent one. I read that it may be because he hasn't eaten.

I tried a decoration plant and cave to curb his boredom but it seemed too large for the tank (bought it for the 10g), and he had trouble navigating around so I removed them. The water tests for this tank:
Ammonia - 0.2
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5
Since he isn't eating the worms and the ammonia is 0.2, I'm gonna do a water change today, dechlorinated with Aqumedi Basic Chlorine Free given by my local fish store, and conditioned with Microbe-Lift Xtreme Water Conditioner and Microbe-Lift Nite-Out II Starter bacteria. Going to get some smaller caves for him now. I know he'll be happier in the 10g with all the decorations but I can't move him over until it's been cycled properly.

Based in Singapore, so Prime is dechloro is getting shipped over, don't have it yet, will switch to it when it arrives!

Help! What can I do in the meantime? I really want to keep him alive!! I appreciate any help and advice!!

 

[AR1]

Tagging a member who can help kno4te

 

[tlindsey]

What can I do in the meantime?

Welcome aboard
Give the puffer time to adjust to it's new environment.

 

[piffpuffer]

Welcome aboard
Give the puffer time to adjust to it's new environment.

I'm scared he's gonna starve, the shop clearly didnt feed him well and now he's not eating, would you happen to know normally how long they would take to start eating again?

 

[Deadeye]

Welcome to the forum!
To start, an uncycled tank is never a good thing, especially for an already sensitive fish like a puffer.
The other thing to note is that puffers are an incredibly nervous fish. They can take days to settle in an environment and feel comfortable enough to eat. I had a group of amazons take months to stop glass surfing. The best you can do is keep lights dim and give plenty of hiding spots and it should come around within a few days.
Long term, I think you’ll need more than a 10 gallon. They are quite active, I couldn’t imagine one in less than a 3 foot tank.
Another concern is parasites. Being largely wild caught, puffers do have a tendency to come in with intestinal parasite. I usually like to deworm when I get new puffers. Pictures would help diagnose.

 

[kno4te]

Reduce stress. Water changes to keep ammonia, nitrite and nitrate down as much as possible w/o distributing the fish too much . Would hold off on feeding if you can for now. Eventually once the tank is cycled and fish is settled then should eat. If it’s got a sunken belly then levamisole 1/2 dose is usually enough for puffers. Get the water corrected first then the eating should fall in line, hopefully. Update as it goes.

 

[piffpuffer]

Welcome to the forum!
To start, an uncycled tank is never a good thing, especially for an already sensitive fish like a puffer.
The other thing to note is that puffers are an incredibly nervous fish. They can take days to settle in an environment and feel comfortable enough to eat. I had a group of amazons take months to stop glass surfing. The best you can do is keep lights dim and give plenty of hiding spots and it should come around within a few days.
Long term, I think you’ll need more than a 10 gallon. They are quite active, I couldn’t imagine one in less than a 3 foot tank.
Another concern is parasites. Being largely wild caught, puffers do have a tendency to come in with intestinal parasite. I usually like to deworm when I get new puffers. Pictures would help diagnose.

Thank you! My current 10g is definitely wider than the standard ones but yep, I have plans to upgrade my 10g to a 25g eventually! I've bought more decos (plan to rotate the caves every week or so) and just started the deworming, still pacing but seems to calm down a little quicker now and less erratic darting. My current cave has two mini tunnels and i tucked it diagonally against the corner so he's have an extra hiding spot, and he seems to like one tunnel, often swimming a specific path into the cave and out that one tunnel. So hopefully that's a good sign!

Did a water change right before the deworming treatment and two snails of the three I put in before have disappeared. I dont want to assume but he might have ate them because I've checked all the decos and hiding spots and even under the filter.

Edit: Just saw him eat the last snail!!

 

[piffpuffer]

Reduce stress. Water changes to keep ammonia, nitrite and nitrate down as much as possible w/o distributing the fish too much . Would hold off on feeding if you can for now. Eventually once the tank is cycled and fish is settled then should eat. If it’s got a sunken belly then levamisole 1/2 dose is usually enough for puffers. Get the water corrected first then the eating should fall in line, hopefully. Update as it goes.

Thank you for the advice! I'll keep an eye out for his belly. I'm now doing daily water changes (between 40% to 60% depending on how messy the water is and the ammonia level). The water is so much clearer than its previous state with the water from the store I brought him back in.

I'll stop attempting to give food, but after this water change, I realised two of the three snails I put in before have disappeared, might have ate them. Should I put in more replacement snails or just leave it for now?

Edit: Just saw him eat the last snail!!

 

[piffpuffer]

Update: I'm elated I know he's eating now and I can see a slight belly forming! He didn't attempt to eat the freeze dried shrimp and thawed blood worms before, it seems he only eats when he wants to because that last snail was in there for quick some time and I sure don't want to leave non-live food just floating around and building ammonia. I bought seachem garlic solution that I want to try soon. Not sure what else I can do for non-live food. If anything, I'll just switch completely over to live food. Any tips on breeding shrimp?

 

[kno4te]

Thank you for the advice! I'll keep an eye out for his belly. I'm now doing daily water changes (between 40% to 60% depending on how messy the water is and the ammonia level). The water is so much clearer than its previous state with the water from the store I brought him back in.

I'll stop attempting to give food, but after this water change, I realised two of the three snails I put in before have disappeared, might have ate them. Should I put in more replacement snails or just leave it for now?

Edit: Just saw him eat the last snail!!

I’d hold adding anymore till its belly gets flat and then add more snails.