Pea Puffer not eating much for a month now

I've had a single pea puffer for about a month now but he's not eating anything. When I first got him, all he would eat was snails. I've tried blood worms, mysis shrimp, and brine shrimp but he won't touch any of it. I have snails in his tank for him to hunt, but he's starting to get really skinny. I don't really know what else to try.

 

Water params

 

Have you been cleaning out the dead snail shells? Can be causing ammonia and puffers are super sensitive to it. Anything else in the tank?

 

I take out the dead snails and I change the water every week. It's the only fish in the tank. I ran out of test strips so I don't know the water parameters.

 

Is is belly sunken in? I recommend getting the API master test kit which is a liquid and much more accurate than test strips.

 

You need to be testing your water regularly with any tank. More so with a puffer. They're extremely sensitive to toxins. API master test kit for sure and let us know the results.

 

I just had this happen to my puffer. I think it was a parasite. Someone suggested I try treating with Prazipro, but unfortunately, she passed away before I could do so. I wish you better luck.

 

Sorry she passed. Most puffer owners suggest treating for internal parasites when you first get them, even if they aren't showing any signs (mainly the sunken in belly). It's more precautionary, and since most puffers are wild caught the chances of them having them are high. It's best to treat their food, but if they aren't eating at all, you can treat their water. Their stomach could also just be sunken in from starvation.

I would get my hands on some live food to get him enticed to eat again. You should be able to get some live brine shrimp. Also look around for live black worms. If you really can't find any live, I've had good luck with frozen krill. If you don't already, get a pair of feeding tongs and hold the bloodworms for example in them and wiggle them in front of your puffer. It's supposed to trick the fish into thinking it's live, but it also makes the fish know that tongs=food.

Once the puffer is eating, if he goes from round and full to a sunken in belly in just a few hours and is eating a lot and just not holding the weight, then it's most likely the IPs.

Good luck