No, sadly, the only problem we ever had with Doodles was fatal. We did have a similar problem with our previous Mbu, Puffski, a few years back, and again, this was purely down to letting him overeat and easily remedied by increasing the oxygen by directing the flow nearer to the surface. Not something we tried to let happen very often though - as you mention, we too believe in "grazing" - little and often rather than a whopping great meal every few days. With this same Mbu, we also caused a fairly unusual wound to his skin - purely accidental, but one never to forget:
Our turtle is soft shelled, so often used to scratch himself on the Bogwood in the tank. His shell became so sore once that we had to treat it with Tamadine (an oitment requiring direct application to the shell), but taking him out of the water panicked him, so we held him at the surface of the water which kept him calm. Only Puffski noticed the thumb of my partner's hand as he was holding Myrtle, and before I could finish my warning, Puffski nipped the dangling thumb (easily confused with a mussel poor guy). Myrtle went down with a splash; only Puffski was a little startled and darted upwards, hitting the tank lights. The heat of the light was enough to burn his sensitive skin (not deeply I must add) but this caused a similar loss of colour to a patch of the skin. He then had a small orange patch of skin for about a week, after which it healed over and his pattern returned. I have not heard of the burying before, although it seems like a natural instinct for them to remain motionless - that way they use less energy for movement, so can concentrate using the available oxgen to respire and digest.
We do have a few pics of the turtle and the Mbu - will see if I can upload them at some point.
Urgent Help Needed - Poorly Mbu Puffer, suspected swim bladd
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.
-
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: Urgent Help Needed - Poorly Mbu Puffer, suspected swim bladd
Thats good to hear someone else's viewpoint on feeding these fish and glad that you have only experienced it the once. The burning of the skin sounds bad but I think that its better than carpet surfing which is what has happened toa few smaller puffers when they have bitten the hand that feeds 
Your idea about the burrowing is interesting too amd makes sense.
Can I ask if any of your Mbu developed a black spot on the underside near the tail? I am wondereing if this is a way to sex them perhaps and also how old have they lived in the past?
Your idea about the burrowing is interesting too amd makes sense.Can I ask if any of your Mbu developed a black spot on the underside near the tail? I am wondereing if this is a way to sex them perhaps and also how old have they lived in the past?
-
Boxermom
- Former Staff Member
- Posts: 2182
- Joined: Sun Mar 12, 2006 8:34 pm
- Location: Wisconsin
- Contact:
Re: Urgent Help Needed - Poorly Mbu Puffer, suspected swim bladd
I was very disconcerted to read my LFS's latest stock list and see that they have a mbu for sale. 
Tina
Puffers: Auriglobus silus x1, Tetraodon travancoricus x1, Tetraodon turgidus x1, Tetraodon miurus x1, Tetraodon nigroviridis x2, Tetraodon baileyi x2, Tetraodon lineatus x1, Tetraodon palembangensis x1
Puffers: Auriglobus silus x1, Tetraodon travancoricus x1, Tetraodon turgidus x1, Tetraodon miurus x1, Tetraodon nigroviridis x2, Tetraodon baileyi x2, Tetraodon lineatus x1, Tetraodon palembangensis x1
-
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: Urgent Help Needed - Poorly Mbu Puffer, suspected swim bladd
It is very sad to see them in little tanks full of other fish that bother them. If only it were simple to police the administration of licences for large fish and checks to ensure that the tanks they are going in are suitable, I would support such an idea if it ever came about