Very sick mbu.

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
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Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.

We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.

While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.

Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
Wookie24
Puffer Fry
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Re: Very sick mbu.

Post by Wookie24 »

Hi all,

Little update. Percy is doing better. It was trapped air however it was futher back than his stomach which is why burping him wasnt working and has now been release by vets. he is on a strong course of antibiotic injections for the infaction in his fins which has imrpoved over the last few days. not out of the woods yet but hes doing much better.

https://ibb.co/cGsHsc

They have sent off also some tissue culture to find out what bactiral infections it is. hes doing well its nice to see him not on his side.
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Pufferpunk
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Re: Very sick mbu.

Post by Pufferpunk »

YAY! It did sound like air trapped to me.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
Wookie24
Puffer Fry
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Re: Very sick mbu.

Post by Wookie24 »

Yes it was stressing me out a little was up till 3:30 am the first day trying to burp him and then more the following days just glad it wasn’t anything much worse and that he held in to get him to the vets. He’s on .2mls of marbocyl for the next 7 days and review after that.
john132
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Re: Very sick mbu.

Post by john132 »

It was trapped air however it was futher back than his stomach which is why burping him wasnt working and has now been release by vets.
Hey wookie, could you tell me please what the vet did to release the air??
Did he cut a hole or did some surgery??
Thanks man.

Does he eat?
Wookie24
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Joined: Sat Feb 17, 2018 9:57 am
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Re: Very sick mbu.

Post by Wookie24 »

Hi John132, i didnt see what they actually did but from what they explained they used a syringe to release the air. they did anaesthetise him to do so.

bit of an update on percy tho. hes not doing so well the infection is getting worse and he is weakening im going to watch over the next day or so and if no improvement i may have to put the big fella down which is the last thing i want to do but dont want him to struggle on for too long.
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Re: Very sick mbu.

Post by john132 »

hope percy makes it man... :-|

there is a super antibiotic called Carbapenem. I am not sure if the vet can get. It kills most gram positive and gram negative pathogens.
It is usually used in intensive care units in hospitals when a patient contracts a multi resistant infection.
That is like the atomic bomb of antibiotics.

Not sure if Carbapenem works with puffer fish?
Maybe Pufferpunk can help??
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Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32764
Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles
Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
Location: Chicago
Contact:

Re: Very sick mbu.

Post by Pufferpunk »

Sorry, never heard of it. I get most of my fish medical advice, here:
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com ... ation.html
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
Wookie24
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Posts: 19
Joined: Sat Feb 17, 2018 9:57 am
Location (country): United kingdom

Re: Very sick mbu.

Post by Wookie24 »

sadly percy hasnt made it through the night. not going to be the same coming home from work to be greeted by him. not sure what we are going to do yet as i have a rather large tank looking very empty at the moment and im not sure any other mbu will be as good as percy was, never once even at over a foot long did he even touch one of the other fish. (think i was lucky there).


Thanks both for all your help. i did get a phone call off the vets late on friday. They had a look back over his xrays and it seems as if he had a growth (tumor) pushing against his swim blader. which they believe is what caused him to one take on air in the first place and two not to be acting like he used too.
User avatar
Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32764
Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles
Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
Location: Chicago
Contact:

Re: Very sick mbu.

Post by Pufferpunk »

:rip: I know how you feel. Lost my 19 year old fahaka last year, who allowed tank mates to live with him. No way would I risk adding another one to my tank full of fish.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
Wookie24
Puffer Fry
Posts: 19
Joined: Sat Feb 17, 2018 9:57 am
Location (country): United kingdom

Re: Very sick mbu.

Post by Wookie24 »

19 years wow that’s a good life tho. Poor Percy was only 3 too young. However the short life he did have I believe he enjoyed he was very spoilt and everyone that came over love him haha. (Seems weird that you can get that attached to a fish but I guess until you keep a puffer you never know). Again I really can’t thank you enough pufferpunk you’ve been a lot of help through app this.
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