The Puffer Forum

Hello, my Mbu has recently began showing a very strange almost lopsided swimming all around the tank. It will contain random bursts of speed and it is almost as though he can't control where he is going. A few times he has ended up swimming right into the top of the tank and he will take sharp turns right into the glass out of nowhere. Has anyone experienced anything like this?

Water parameters:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: less than 20
Nitrite: 0
PH: 7.0

How large is your tank?

180 gallons. The puffer is about 7 "

Hopefully you'll be able to upgrade. These fish need upwards of 1000 gallons when they are fully grown, and some who have owned them say they wish they could have provided closer to 5000. viewtopic.php?f=56&t=27677&p=299873&hilit=+mbu#p299873
These fish need a lot of space to swim, and yours may already be feeling limited in space.

I can't tell you without actually seeing the fish, but what you are describing sounds like flashing. Have you checked carefully for ich spots or fungus? What are you feeding him generally? Unrelated to flashing, but have you treated for IPs?

Yes I am aware I need to upgrade him soon and funding is not an issue for me so when my girlfriend and I buy our house in May, I am transforming the garage into my fish room/office and I plan on having the guys from ATM build my tank for me...I will give this little guy everything he needs.

In regards to Ich, I am not so concerned with that because he does not show any symptoms of it. I just treated for IPs because I figured it couldn't hurt. I am actually hoping that is what the issue is because if that's the case it's an easy fix. His diet consists of clams on the half shell, shell on raw shrimp, snails, fiddler crabs, red crabs and crawfish. I am assuming if it is IPs he got them from either the snails or crustaceans.

IPs wouldn't cause that behaviour. Plus, if his food has been frozen then he wouldn't have gotten any from it.

What are you using to test your water? To me it sounds like ammonia or nitrite poisoning.

Awesome to hear that he'll be well taken care of. I don't think it would hurt to treat again. My puffers sometimes get them again one way or another and a 3-day metronidozole treatment gets them back on their feet, er, fins. Since you don't see any external problems, I would try that and see if it helps. Make sure your test kits aren't expired. Try giving him some new, interesting decor that he can explore, as he may just be bored. I also think you'll see improvement once he has the larger tank. Mbu's are extremely smart and active, and therefore one of the more difficult puffers to please IMO.

It sounds like perhaps his swim bladder, or perhaps he swallowed some air.
What I hope it is not, is something larger puffers seem to develop out of nowhere that manifests as a lump where it would appear the intestines/guts would be. Diet (thiamine deficiency) and smaller tank sizes have been constants with these cases, although one wasn't a small tank but he was a bit neglectful with water changes. Also, it seemed that a lot of people added "aquarium salt" thinking that would help, and they have also thought it was a good idea to move the giant fish to an even smaller tank. Please don't do either of these things, it's never ended well.

Does he have a lump on his side? Whatever this anomaly is, there is always a lump on the side and one eye gets cloudy.

In the mean time, you can safely add epsom salt (Magnesium sulfate) at the dose of 1 TBSP per 10 gallons.

Good luck, and keep us posted. Please try not to get offended by people bringing up the tank size, they don't mean harm, I promise.

We definitely do. I just know too many people who don't know the kind of tank Mbus require, so I always like to double check.

Flutter wrote:IPs wouldn't cause that behaviour. Plus, if his food has been frozen then he wouldn't have gotten any from it.

What are you using to test your water? To me it sounds like ammonia or nitrite poisoning.

Well the only frozen are the shrimp and clams...the crabs and snails are live. I am using the API Master Freshwater Test Kit. I will check water again though.

sevenyearnight wrote:It sounds like perhaps his swim bladder, or perhaps he swallowed some air.
What I hope it is not, is something larger puffers seem to develop out of nowhere that manifests as a lump where it would appear the intestines/guts would be. Diet (thiamine deficiency) and smaller tank sizes have been constants with these cases, although one wasn't a small tank but he was a bit neglectful with water changes. Also, it seemed that a lot of people added "aquarium salt" thinking that would help, and they have also thought it was a good idea to move the giant fish to an even smaller tank. Please don't do either of these things, it's never ended well.

Does he have a lump on his side? Whatever this anomaly is, there is always a lump on the side and one eye gets cloudy.

In the mean time, you can safely add epsom salt (Magnesium sulfate) at the dose of 1 TBSP per 10 gallons.

Good luck, and keep us posted. Please try not to get offended by people bringing up the tank size, they don't mean harm, I promise.

YES HE DOES HAVE A LUMP! Is there any cure for this and where can I find the epsom salt?

Awesome job for catching that SYN!

You can get epsom salt from a pharmacy or even a horse store. Just make sure there aren't any perfumes added.

Just a side note: puffers don't have swim/air bladders.

Is this ailment something that seems to go away with the addition of the epsom salt?

Every time someone mentions a swim bladder, someone says they don't have one, and then someone else says they do. I'll be honest, thankfully I've never had to dissect a puffer, so I really didn't know if they have one or not. I'm sorry!

I don't know if there is any cure for this ailment, but everyone tries to burp them, and it doesn't help, and probably stresses them out. It's up to you if you want to try it anyway, but it's not worked for anyone thus far.

Try the epsom salt, other than that, I don't know what can help, I just know what hasn't helped.

Do you have any vitamins on hand, like Vitachem?