The Puffer Forum

Dadof4 wrote:Have to agree with RTR, I am questioning parasites. To me it sounds like he may be constipated vs having IP's. How does the fish look? Does he look malnourished? Does he look distressed other than the discoloration (which sounds like stress of transfer and having tank mates). The melafix could be causing issues too, make sure you have extra oxygenation in there.

Yea hes rather skinny now. Okay in that case i will stop the melafix and primafix. What should i do if hes constipated? so the opaque white poop is an indication of constipation? hes still not eating for now

Mbus have huge caudals. Much of their swimming is with the caudal collapsed other than when turning at sped, or when they want attention (then it is fanned and the red border is brighest), or the rare times when they want a burst of speed - they can MOVEwith caudal propulsion. Even the large fahaka don't us their caudal as much as some smaller puffs do, but more than the mbu.But they do open it periodically in any case - sort of stretching perhaps, like yawns and practice puffing (which I never saw mine do).

The density of the poo bothers me - that to me is unusual. Constipation is a distinct posibility.

Do you have a spare smallish tank with mature filter available? I'd pick up some ghost shrimp and gut-load them for a few days as tempting treats, and good roughage. Some of the crushed shell is swallowed, where crushed snails' shell seems to be only rarely.

Constipation can be treated by adding 1 tablespoon of Epsom salt/10g of water.

I tried using the ghost shrimp method today, dumped a few into my tank because i dont have an extra cycled tank. My puffer din even touch it I dont wanna throw so many shrimps into my tank in case they start breeding...Anyway now he seems to be swimming around abit and exploring the tank..it seems like he ate a lobster yesterday but i wasn't there to witness it. All i saw was a the remains of my lobster below hes body Im gonna try out the epsom salt method that Pufferpunk recommended.

Hes body is still blotchy and its not a nice spotted brown. Hes belly is rather white though. Im just wondering what would be some suitable tank mates for my mbu? can i put in a clown knife fish? Maybe some lively tank mates would make my mbu more active lol

T.mbu does not need tankmates. Tankmates are called sushi.

Besides, the tank is not big enough to support the mbu at full size anyway, much less other fish as well..

Okay i gave him the epsom salt. How often am i suppose to give him the dosage?

From what i observed, it seems that he does not have enough energy to lift hes body up, hes fins are fluttering away non-stop and he moves up abit but after that he stops and goes down to the substrate again. Even when he manages to start swimming, he just moves up and down as if hes struggling to keep hes body afloat. Is this possible when a fish stays at the bottom for too long a period?

Dose 1x. Salt doesn't dissipate in the water like meds. Replace when doing a water change.

i'm not sure if this is significant or not, but reviewing this thread from the beginning, are you sure that your tank parameters are OK?
the reason I ask is out of concern that you may be treating this fish for something that isn't the problem
there seemed to be some question in regard to your nitrate level in your original parameters (nitrate being "0") (tank not cycled, as busybones indicated)
in your second post you had mentioned that you were having a difficult time differentiating between the 0ppm & 10ppm levels on the color card
is this the same as the card that you are using?

have you re-checked the levels (all of them) since then?
i may be wrong, but i'm concerned that your puffers troubles may be due to water quality

okay i decided to go and purchase a new nitrate test kit. The last time i used was API so i went to purchase a Tetra kit instead. I tested the water twice and the nitrate levels are 12.5 ppm. This should be more accurate. I tink my old API nitrate kit is faulty or something. The ammonia has risen abit after i dumped in the ghost shrimps, now its at 0.5 ppm. I just did a 20% WC.

pH is 6.8
Ammonia 0.5
Nitrate 12.5
Nitrite (Tested in the morning, was zero)
Water temp 26 C

I think i have done everything right. I used the parasite guard, i used the epsom salt ..Maybe my mbu is still adjusting to the tank i guess..he will swim up now and den. Just gotta wait and see..

Thanks guys

Okay my mbu was behaving fine a few days ago but now he seems to have developed some Ich. I am currently following the heat and salt method as provided in the library. Now he just stays still all day and hes fins are curled tightly against hes body. He also seems to be breathing quite heavily. When he opens hes fins, the fin just stays open..it doesnt flutter non-stop as per normal. He just ate a snail this morning but he had problem breaking the shell so i had do it for him..

Could this be due to the Ich guys?

Water parameters look fine to me

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5ppm
Temp 30 C (treat the ich)
pH 7

Im running two large airstones consecutively now. Is it possible that too much air stones would also hinder hes breathing?

And when hes active, hes always pressing hes mouth against the front glass..could it be due to hes teeth being too long? the previous owner had the mbu for 6 months and nv trimmed hes teeth before...

Ich hits the gills more than the exterior of the fish, Breathing issues are standard for tor the infection. The airstones should be a help.

How is the water - any detectable ammonia or nitrite? what is the nitrate level?

The fish is not in shape for dentistry right now, clear the Ich first.

Okay then i will run the two airstones. I got a general query on water changing..:

WHen you add in the new batch of water, do you do it by buckets or you just attach a hose to the tank ? If you have like a 250g tank, you cant be adding buckets by buckets..gonna take forever and its really heavy..

So if you attach the hose to the tank, you will only add the dechlorinator after the water has filled up right?

Lastly, after adding the dechlorinator, do you bubble the water for a period of time before you turn on your filters again? because i read that too much chlorine will kill all the BBs ..and im not sure how fast the decholorinator is suppose to take its effect..

Thanks guysz

Do you have Prime? Stir up the substrate & drain with a hose, add the dechlorinator (enough for 250g) directly to the tank, & fill with matched temperature water from your tap. Most of us here, use a Python hose for this:
http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/p ... catid=3910
You could make one yourself. I believe there are instructions in our DIY forum.

Pufferpunk wrote:Do you have Prime? Stir up the substrate & drain with a hose, add the dechlorinator (enough for 250g) directly to the tank, & fill with matched temperature water from your tap. Most of us here, use a Python hose for this:
http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/p ... catid=3910
You could make one yourself. I believe there are instructions in our DIY forum.

Yup im using Prime at the moment. So after you add in the water & prime, you just start the filter immediately? I guess Prime would remove the chlorine straight away..