The Puffer Forum

hi everyone

i recently posted on here as bruce the fahaka had an IP which was showing in his long whit stringy poo...

throught the advice here i dosed with Flubenol 15 enough for 100gallons and hes is in a 90 g tank (uk).....all went fine and the next day he pooed brown again...

however from that day on ...so 5days now he hasnt pooed. well only one tiny one. he used to poo everyday if not twice!
he is fed a variety of food including cockles mussels prawns shrimp and crab ......although since he is not pooing i ve cut him down because i didnt want to keep filling him up!

is there anything i can give him or was it the flubenol?

tank ...
ammonia 0
ph 7.2
nitrate 0
nitrite 0

Hard to believe that a tank with a fahaka in it would have 0 nitrates...

Add 1tbsp Epsom salt/10g to his tank, for constipation.

his tank is massivley over filtered and i checked water two days ago and nitrates were 4ppm...well thats what the lfs told me!
is that right? he said the water was perfect though?

thank you ill try the salt now

The water is fine, it's just a zero on nitrate often indicates a problem with the test kits in question, since tanks nearly always have at least 5. I do have a tank that never has any nitrates, but this is rare. It could be that your puffer is pooing less now that he does not have IPs - puffers with IPs poo very quickly after they eat, while those without them take a bit of time to digest. It's also much easier for a puffer pooing dark poo nuggets to poo without you seeing, while the parasite poo hangs in long strings for some time. I'd still use the epsom salt to be sure, but you might be ok.

thanks nick!

maybe it is their test kit they did say the liquid isnt always accurate!

so do i just teat the once with epsom salt? and it wont affect him being an FW?

Stores rarely use nitrate tests correctly, mine never shakes the reagent bottle #2, and thus only ever gets bad readings. Use correct, liquid tests are MUCH more accurate than strips, which should be avided at all costs. The epsom salt in the quantity mentioned will be fine for your fish.

Probably a good idea to buy your own test kit.