The Puffer Forum

A couple of months ago I bought a pair of Congo puffers (T muirus). Things were fine until the male started bullying the female. He wasn't hurting her, but he was keeping her from eating food. He would eat so much food that he would lose his ability to swim properly and would end up bobbing at the top of the tank. The first time I found him like that it really scared me and I thought he was going to die ... but he didn't. So I waited a day to feed them again, and the very next time it was the same thing, he ate so much food, to keep her from eating, that he wasn't able to swim properly. At this point I decided to separate them, so I put him on the other side of the divider. Things seemed much better. She would get excited and as soon as I would put the bloodworm into the tank, she would come up and eat it, even before it landed on the bottom.

Then a week after I separated them, I went to clean the tank in the morning, as I do each and every day, and I found my male Congo lying on the bottom dead!! He seemed fine the night before, and there weren't any odd marks on his body, he didn't look any different, so I can only guess that he must have caused something serious to happen when he lost his ability to swim right those few days before, even though he appeared fine.

And this is when the problems started really. My female Congo went off bloodworm, she would just ignore it and watch it fall to the ground. She went for days without eating and I was really getting worried. I had tried shrimp, but she didn't want anything to do with that. So after her not eating for 3 days, I decided to try small pieces of mussel, and that was the answer!! She ate the mussel right up and I thought all my worries were over ..... but they weren't!

For the past few days she hasn't accepted any food. In fact, she seems to swim up and down alot. She is back to burying herself more than she was right after he died. I am very worried about her. I don't know how long they can go without eating before it becomes detrimental to them. The water parameters are fine, and I do my regular water changes. Nothing different has happened. Nothing new added to the tank. I'm just very worried about her. Naturally after losing the male I was very sad and disappointed. I don't want to lose the female too. I'm wondering, as weird as this may sound, if she's missing him. Even with the divider up, they could still see each other, but I don't know if I am giving her more ability than what she's naturally got (in missing him I mean). She looks fine, and seems normal in every way except not eating.

I don't want to lose her. Does anyone have any ideas? Should I be worried?

I'm moving this to the hospital forum.

What are your water parameters, actual numbers?

When in doubt, a water change is always a good step.

I did a water change today, but only because it's the normal day to do one. I wasn't sure if I should have put this in the hospital section or not, sorry.

Water parameters: ammonia = 0, nitrite = 0, nitrate = 20 (remember I was having problems with high nitrate right out of the tap?) pH = 7.5

Like I said, nothing has changed .... only that she's not eating.

I'm happy to say that my female Congo is back to her normal self again. She's eating and doing all the things she used to do.
So thanks for looking, but all is well!

Oh, good!

Actually, I should have updated this post, my Congo died last Monday, 25 May. She seemed to do better, and had started eating, and then she became ill one evening and was dead by the next morning.

I saw that post a minute later.

Yeah, and what's still distressing is that my suvattii are still not back to normal yet, but they are doing a little better, however, that doesn't give me any idea why the one suvattii died, and I am still unsure why the Congo died. And I'm feeling a little anxious because I'm due to get a new puffer on Wednesday and without knowing why these others died, I'm a little worried.