The Puffer Forum

Hi all,
What a day car fails MOT, don't know how much that is going to cost< I need a rear brake Calliper And now Midge is looking like he is drunk!!!, eat last night, but he is just lying on the sand and like twitches , when he ventures to swim, it's wired he swims very fast and jerks, then back and lies on the sand
Any ideas would be welcome

Tank 80 Gallons
Water changes 2 a week about 30 gallons each time if not more,.
Cycle over 3 years using a Ehiem Professional 3
Air pump with 3 stones

PH 7.5 Temp 26-27
Ammonia 0
No 2 0
No3 20-30
I do use amquel and about 3 tea spoons of salt once a month.

He is fed on Mussel, prawns, now and again on cockles

Tank mates are 2 small Malwais , that stays in the rocks , a lot babies from the Malwais, a small Firemouth, Red Tail Shark Bristlenose Plecs

First how large is your mbu?
Nitrates are too high.. they should usually be below 20, so do a water change, add salt

Also when you feed mussles and cockles are they with shell?

Why are you using Amquel? How big is the puffer/tank mates? Generally, "drunk" swimming is a sign of nitrite poisoning. What test kits are you using?

Pufferpunk wrote:Why are you using Amquel? How big is the puffer/tank mates? Generally, "drunk" swimming is a sign of nitrite poisoning. What test kits are you using?

My No2 Nitrite zero so how can it be nitrite poisoning, I am now doing a water change, will answer the other questions later

I always dread hearing I have a stuck rear caliper.

Any of the other fish displaying the jerky movement at all when you see them?

Hi Hilly,
Yeah just failed MOT, the right Calliper is not working at all, will look on Ebay and also see if I can free it tomorrow.

No other fish are showing any signs of jerking, just Midge. At the moment he is just lying on the sand, last night I went bed really late and then was up at 4am, checking him, his colour is fine, is belly is cream, and as I said he ate yesterday, confusing.

I'm wondering if it might be worthwhile treating for constipation after his weird behaviour a short while ago. Perhaps he does still have some sort of intestinal blockage or constipation.

A preventative internal parasite dose could also be worthwhile, perhaps there is something that is irritating him.

It is a weird one so i'm just throwing some ideas around that could be done with little outlay.

I tried replacing the brake pads once years ago on a Peugeot 205, I ended up with 2 stuck calipers a broken bleed nipple on the replacement caliper and no brakes whatsoever. First and last time I worked on the brakes on my cars, LOL.

I have a few meds in the cupboard, but not sure which one to use, I am thinking on the lines of eSHa 2000, Fungus, Finrot & Bacteria Treatment, what do you think??
Might leave the car alone then!! Lol

There are 3 staple meds I have on hand to use with puffers; Melafix for skin healing, Pimafix for fungal infections (both of these can be used together, plenty of aeration is required from the sounds of it you have that anyway). I use Kusuri wormer Plus for Parasites, its an entire tank based medicine none of the faffing around with treating the food. I have had excellent success with that several times

So I dont bother with anything else. i just treat and keep the water pristine during treatment phases and that seems to work the majority of the time.

I've never had to treat for constipation but I would use the epsom salt technique of 1Tablespoon per 10gallon of water.

LOL, I am crap at mechanics, dizzy caps, rotor arms, leads and air filters are about my limit.

Yeah I use use Kusuri wormer Plus for my Discus, dunno if I still got any, but sure do have Epsom salt, will give it ago.
My old job was Development Technician but that was on smaller machines, dunno much about cars, just know that they cost a lot and drink plenty of petrol, I wonder how the Americans would feel about paying over £5 per gallon, when I was over there 5 years ago you could fill up a car for a fiver Lol

I'd go with the salt first then and if that doesnt show improvement pick up some more Kusuri.

I just dont have time to tinker with cars, ill quite happily rip a house apart and work on that but with a car I just want to drive it. A fiver used to last a couple of days of trundling round town and now we have the VAT petrol rise to look forward to in January, cant wait for that.

Constipation was my first thought as well, my mbu started to do the same thing, i believe that it may have been from feeding him too many hard-shelled things. He couldn't digest it all properly. .. Hopefully the end result is good for you!

Hi Lisa,

I hope he is on the mend, even though I have only had him since July, I have grown very found of him, last night I could hardly sleep, went be 01.30, then got up at 4am, to make sure he was still alive.
I have been watching him and he seems more lively, his swimming seems a bit frantic at times, at the moment he is lying on the sand, but his fins seem to be moving more, that's got to be a good sign???

I will do another water test later, just to see if No3 has come down, my Ammonia and No2 are always fine, but I do struggle to keep Nitrate down, so any suggestions would be welcome, also how much salt do you put in a week??

Well sleeplessness and getting up at that time means one thing.... your puffer owns you now, lol.

Just out of curiosuty have you tested the nitrates in the water straight out of your tap.

I will let someone else answer the salt question not having experience of doing it myself. Wouldnt want to give you mis-information.

Hilly wrote:Well sleeplessness and getting up at that time means one thing.... your puffer owns you now, lol.

Just out of curiosuty have you tested the nitrates in the water straight out of your tap.

I will let someone else answer the salt question not having experience of doing it myself. Wouldnt want to give you mis-information.

Hi Hilly, yeah I did that this afternoon, what I am doing is more water changes, also I have got rid of my Severums today. So now Midge food won't get nicked, if it does then, they will be gone Yes he owns me, as well as my wife and 2 daughters, so nothing new