Mbu acting weird

[donna]

Hi all,

I have had my Mbu for about 2 years now and all seemed to be ok in till recently.He use to manage cockles in shells,whole prawns and mussels with no problems but lately he has been struggling to swallow anything.He still manages to eat them but it takes him along time,also he keeps spitting it in and out.He has also been kicking off quite a bit when anyone goes near the tank.

Can anyone please help or have any suggestions as he is doing my head in.

Thanks

[Agnate]

How big is his tank, what kind of filtration & water change schedule, and are there any tank mates?

[donna]

How big is his tank, what kind of filtration & water change schedule, and are there any tank mates?

The tank is 400l,I know he will need a bigger tank for when he gets older.He has got 2 filters in there and we do weekly water changes.He lives with 2 silver barbs,1 biggish plec and 2 very small plecs,2 small cat fish,4 torpedo barbs and a couple of other small fish.

[Agnate]

To be honest, I think he's already been stunted. If I'm not mistaken, Mbus grow pretty quickly, and I imagine he would have hit the 15-16 inches area by now, especially after two years. It's possible that he's starting to experience some internal organ damage, but to be fair, I'm not really sure what could be happening.

Could you test the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates for us? By the sounds of it, your nitrates are probably pretty high, even with the weekly water changes, as Mbus are notorious for causing a huge amount of waste. If the nitrates are about 20-30 ppm, it could be causing him some distress and might be part of the reason for his difficulty eating.

Are his teeth very overgrown? Maybe take a picture of the front of his face for us? It could be something as simple as overgrown teeth, which makes it difficult to eat.

[donna]

I don't beleive he has been stunted at all.I know someone who owns a Mbu and i also know a local fish retailer that has got a Mbu and if i'm honest the Mbu i have is a prime example in perfect condition.
I do regular checks on my water,ammonia is 0ppm,nitrite is 0ppm and nitrate is as you guessed higher than it should be 30ppm sometimes a bit higher.I know this is higher than avarage but in my local area the nitrate level in the tap water is fairly high anyway.This makes it difficult to keep it low,He has lived in these conditions up to now and he has been fine.
His teeth seem to be fine,I regularly feed him on shell fish,crab claw and whole prawns to keep his beak in shape.There is a picture of him on my profile,it's not the most recent of picture's but he looks no different.

I do have experience in keeping puffers,however this one just seems contankerous and pickie with food.