The Puffer Forum

Hi I ve had bruce about 7 months and hes 4 years old......hes a fahaka 13inches.

tank size 480liters (u.k.)
ph 7.1
ammonia 0
nitirite 0

he has been fine until 5 days ago when he just doesnt want to come out and just hides behind his plants and is very subdued as if hes unwell. very unlike him as he is always swimming around.....he is still eating and is fed on muscles, cockles and prawns. however i ve the last couple of days his poo is mucus like and cream string. is this an IP ? if so what can i do im in the UK so not sure what product to use if it is.....

please help as i want him back to his happy self

If you are in the UK you are in luck, as I've used a UK sourced IP med, flubenol-15, successfully several times. I'm generally dubious of products you add to the water, but this stuff definately gets into the fish and kills the parasites, and has the side benefit of killing any worms segments in the water or filter, where IP foods can't. Cream colored stringy poo is almost always IP, if you go to http://www.flubenol.co.uk, you can order a batch, it works very quickly, I saw a figure 8 that was a skeleton with some puffer skin stretched over it and pooing kite string anytime he ate start pooing Grey to brown lumpy chains the day after treatment, and he is now a total butterball, who my GF and I must slow our feeding of lest he develop health problems from overeating. I'm not associated with the makers at all, I just have direct experience that it does work as it says it does, and that it does seem every bit as safe as they say it is, and when you are sure a product saved a pet you care for when other treatments failed, you are quick to suggest others use it.

Have you added any tankmates or fed the puffer any live fish? 7 months is quite a long time to seem to have normal poo & then suddenly for it to be stringy or have IPs.

thank you for your help.....
we ve had him seven months but introduced him into a bigger new tank 2 weeks ago......its fully cycled but i thought maybe the stress could have set off the IP?

i ve already ordered some flubenol 15 as i read the info on this pg about it.....

oh and he s on hi own ....but we did give him a live shrimp to eat ??.....maybe this caused it ?

Flubenol can't hurt but stress doesn't "set off" parasites. They have to come from somewhere.

Ip's from the live shrimp?

i think its probably stress i ve been putting melafix in for two days and ill treat with flubenol when it arrives........thanks for all your help...saved again!!!!