The Puffer Forum

The mbu at my LFS was labed Maboo but I straightened them out. Please someone go get that gorgeous 7" puffer stick in a 20g tank!

omg he is so so so so skinny. the poor thing. i hope hes doing better now

One of the reasons I put a link to that fish place video is because Mike and I picked this little guy up there. I put a comment concerning the health of their puffers on their video and they said their puffers are fine and fed every other day. (not true as you can obviously see) A month ago when we went there, they had two mbus that were skinny, but active and alert. This last time we went, one of those had died and the other was our rescue because he looked so emaciated. They were feeding him half an earthworm and an MTS. yes, one MTS. I told them to toss a couple apple snails in there, but they pretty much told me to mind my business. I just don't get it because they sell these fish for 170 dollars! I would definitely be making sure they are getting enough to eat. The one gil got mad at me and gave attitude that she can't spend her whole day just feeding one fish. (ok, five minutes a day then??!!) This store has a great selection of fish, but come armed with your own knowledge because they don't know much, and don't have time to give you any concrete info about anything. Poor customer service.

unfortunately all there mbus look very similar to this. he was definitely the worst looking. he still really doesn't seem to be putting weight on. His color seems to be alot better. i'm thinking internal parasites but i want him to become a little less stress and have some nutrition before i consider treating him.

As long as he's eating, I'd treat him ASAP.

He's not getting any nutrition with the IPs in him, and having the worms longer means they grow and he's more stressed, and more likely to have premenantly damaged intestines which have trouble absorbing nutrients. They grow stronger faster than the fish when you nourish, thats the way with worms, I'd treat ASAP.

I agree with Nick, it's just like feeding a bottomless pit, when my Sabahensis had IP's I had to feed every day massive amounts and it was sunken by the morning. As soon as the IP's had been treated less than half what I fed him on a daily basis lasted for several days. The sooner the better and then he can concentrate on putting on weight otherwise I dont think he's going to have much of a chance.

so I am about to starting treating for IPs. i just received the Levamisole Hydrochloride in the mail and I have his shrimp soaking in it. the Metronidazole has not arrived yet and I am getting worried about him so I am going to give him a dose of the levamisole and see what happens. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed. any other suggestions?

There's not a lot more to do than wait and see. Good luck with the treatment.

Ok.....so the latest is.....he will NOT whatsoever eat any food that has been soaked in the meds. any other way to get rid of the IPs?

Soak in the meds & garlic.

yep, crush a galric clove and soak the food in that with the meds.

One of my GSPs hated the Levamisole too and would throw up once he ate it and afterwards, he wouldn't touch the food, even soaked with garlic too. If you're thinking of putting it in the water as a last resort, be very careful. Mine acted like the chemical was causing physical pain (he was all black and trying to jump out of the water) and I had to do immediate massive water changes to get most of it out. I guess some fish are just allergic to it or something. Oddly, the other puffers I have ate the med-soaked food fine. You could also try the pumpkin seed remedy. That worked much better, the fish all loved the flavor apparently. There's a thread about it here.

http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/vie ... f=3&t=9712

That is a very sad video. There should be something you could do or someone you could call for puffer abuse. I hope everything works out for your new puffer.

How is he doing?? I'd love an update.... Did you manage to get him to accept the meds of anything even remotely similar??