my 14ish inch MBU hasn't been as enthusiastic lately about his shrimp.
started a week ago. water conditions are perfect, and a water change was performed anyway.
tank is only 150 gallons (almost snagged a 280 last week) 48x24x31inch and only a few guppies. live plants floating and in pots and no other substrate.
symptoms. He's been coughing.. or thats what i call it. looks like he is trying to hack something up. it even forces him back an inch when he does.
I don't believe it is an obstruction as he has eaten a single small shrimp twice sence it started.
While not nearly as energetic as usual he does occationally swim up and around but it appears to take more effort to do so. like he isn't as boyant. Sometimes taking a flick of the tail to get him to the surface.
I had fed him some crawfish about a week before this started. i was concerned it was parasites and I have some pond sized clout now and have treated twice.
I've added some epsoms salt but ran out after the water change. I'd like to try garlic but dont' want to force him to eat if there is an obstruction.
Otherwise his color is good, when he does decide to swim he darkens his pattern and looks as good as ever. when resting he's blotchy but thats the way he always looked.
Any insight or experience would be appriciated.
MBU not eating
Forum rules
Read this before posting!!
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.
Read this before posting!!
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.
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crazedpuffer
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 1755
- Joined: Sat Aug 06, 2005 11:57 pm
- My Puffers: 1x Porcupine Puffer
1xValentini - Location: Long Island, NY
Re: MBU not eating
Can you post his diet and water perameters?
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manutius
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 1316
- Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2006 3:49 pm
- My Puffers: RIP Clooney the Mbu :(
- Location: Southend essex, UK
- Contact:
Re: MBU not eating
Clooney used to do that on occasion and I could never link it to anything in particular but it did always pass, it could be a reaction to poor water conditions. The changing of colour is completely normal unless it is completely washed out like these pics here
http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/vie ... 524#p71524
http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/vie ... 103#p94103
this is a definate case of overfeeding and you would need to increase O2 in the tank amd maybe lower the temp a little bit and of course reduce the feeding
At the size your Mbu is I would expect your nitrates to be quite high in your tank mine were constantly off the chart , over 160ppm
, could you post your water test result for us please? As foir the feeding regime I wopuld reduce it to twicw a week and see if that makes any difference.
Look forward to hearing a bit more from you and your Mbu, maybe some pics too
http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/vie ... 524#p71524
http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/vie ... 103#p94103
this is a definate case of overfeeding and you would need to increase O2 in the tank amd maybe lower the temp a little bit and of course reduce the feeding
At the size your Mbu is I would expect your nitrates to be quite high in your tank mine were constantly off the chart , over 160ppm
, could you post your water test result for us please? As foir the feeding regime I wopuld reduce it to twicw a week and see if that makes any difference.Look forward to hearing a bit more from you and your Mbu, maybe some pics too