MY MBU DESPERATELY NEEDS HELP!!!
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.
MY MBU DESPERATELY NEEDS HELP!!!
My Mbu has a large mass growing on the roof of his mouth. It has been there for a little over a month. Is there anything I can do? We have taken him to two different vets, but unfortunately we live on an island and neither vet has much experience with the mighty Mbu. I cannot find the specifics of my water, but both vets said the water levels was normal. We currently have our 3 year old Puffy in a 55 gallon tank and he lives with some guppies and other feeder fish. His diet is mainly shrimp now because that's all he can eat. The mass is growing and will eventually make eating impossible. One vet though it to be a possible infection, but after almost 1 week of inject-able antibiotics there has been no improvement. The other vet suggested it might be cancer. We figured we would try antibiotics before doing anything drastic. We are very attached to our little buddy and would hate to have to euthanize him. Does anybody have any advice or suggestions?
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Pufferpunk
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- Posts: 32987
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
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burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
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Re: MY MBU DESPERATELY NEEDS HELP!!!
My 1st thought is that possibly his teeth are overgrown. They do look quite long. Have you been feeding him crunchier foods in the past, like oysters/clams/mussels?
It's hard to tell from your photo but if it is a mass in there, surgery on a puffer/fish, shouldn't be much different than any other animal. Tell the vet he needs to be tranquilized with MS-222, in tank water & then once placed back into fresh unmedicated tank water, he will wake up. Then he'll have to be treated with antibiotics, to prevent infection. That's all you can do for him.
How long have you had him? What island are you on?
It's hard to tell from your photo but if it is a mass in there, surgery on a puffer/fish, shouldn't be much different than any other animal. Tell the vet he needs to be tranquilized with MS-222, in tank water & then once placed back into fresh unmedicated tank water, he will wake up. Then he'll have to be treated with antibiotics, to prevent infection. That's all you can do for him.
How long have you had him? What island are you on?
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!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
Re: MY MBU DESPERATELY NEEDS HELP!!!
We used to feed live crayfish before the tumor made it gard fo him to swallow. We had originally asked the vet to trim his beak back, but she said it didn't look overgrown. She was concerned about loss of tissue because the beak shouldn't be able to come apart so easily. Is cancer common in Mbu? If it is cancer and they operate, will it continue growing back? We just don't want to put him through a bunch of stress and spend money on a temporary solution. It seems to be getting bigger by the day and although he is still eating and swimming, he seems depressed and lethargic.
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32987
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
Re: MY MBU DESPERATELY NEEDS HELP!!!
You'd need a biopsy to see if it's cancer. No, tumors are not common in fish but do happen.
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!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
Re: MY MBU DESPERATELY NEEDS HELP!!!
Mbupuff, you might be putting your fish through a lot of stress by taking no real action at all.
If the antibiotics aren't working, and IF the mass is still GROWING, IMHO you should either have the mass removed, or euthanize the fish. The catch 22 is that if he's going to need the surgery, I wouldn't wait until he's in too weakened a condition to have a good chance to recover. After his mouth has been worked on, he may not want to eat for a few days.
Will your post-op MBU have enough energy reserve to allow his mouth to heal after a
reduced caloric intake for a long time ? ( It's serious vitamin time. )
Please consider talking to the vet again and taking some positive action to help your finned friend.
( I'm well aware that budget factors into this hobby for almost everyone at some point. )
We'd all really like to see your MBU survive and thrive. Please keep us updated.
If the antibiotics aren't working, and IF the mass is still GROWING, IMHO you should either have the mass removed, or euthanize the fish. The catch 22 is that if he's going to need the surgery, I wouldn't wait until he's in too weakened a condition to have a good chance to recover. After his mouth has been worked on, he may not want to eat for a few days.
Will your post-op MBU have enough energy reserve to allow his mouth to heal after a
reduced caloric intake for a long time ? ( It's serious vitamin time. )
Please consider talking to the vet again and taking some positive action to help your finned friend.
( I'm well aware that budget factors into this hobby for almost everyone at some point. )
We'd all really like to see your MBU survive and thrive. Please keep us updated.
Last edited by grup on Sun Aug 23, 2015 7:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32987
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
Re: MY MBU DESPERATELY NEEDS HELP!!!
^^^^^^^^^^^
I agree 100%. Don't let your wet friend suffer.
I agree 100%. Don't let your wet friend suffer.
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!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"