The Puffer Forum

I have had this mbu for a month and a half now who is about 4inchs big.And over the past week he has gone off his food and looks like he is chocking or coughing when he does decide to eat something (but doesnt spit it out).He as this white spotting all over his body and his eyes which i have looked into and it isnt ich which we did think it was.Does anyone know what it could be as im at my whitts end and dont want to loose him.As he is part of the family.

This is quite common with mbu's. They need lots of O2 in the water after they eat. Make sure you have surface agitation or bubblers to keep the water aerated. Wanted to know what sized tank you have for him.

Please answer the questions above in red. Sounds like he may have ich. There's an article on that stickied in this forum.

hes in a 125litre tank i do 50% water changes once a week feed him cockles prawns crab sticks mussels from asda.

had the tank set up before i got him for about 2 weeks with two tetras in there. sometimes when i come home hes swiming about looking happy but as soon as i put food in he looks at it and swims off,last nite i put a prawn in and went out the room came back in and he had a little bit of it.

i dont think he has ich cos they are like little pin sized dots on him hope not anyway nothing like some of the pics ive looked at on here.

it just looks like hes in a bad mood

125 litre tank for a Mbu is far too small, even if it's he's still a small fish. So if he's depressed, I can understand that.
Do I understand it right that this tank has been running for 2 months? Then it's really important that we get the numbers from testing the water quality.
If he was put into the tank after only two weeks of cycling, he has been through a lot of stress, as the water has been quite poisonous for him (nitrites is as it's highest at about 3 weeks of cycling). The stress could lead to the fishes immune system being lower for a while, and he could get diseases - as it seems as he's got.
Do you have any chance of taking a picture of him? It's easier if we can see what the spottings look like.

But to help, we need the water parameters.

Dont suppose you could get a pic, it would clear a lot up. Sounds like could be just his spines but a pic would clarify it.

Even if the tank had been cycled for a year with only 2 tetras, it wouldn't have produced enuigh bacteria to support a small mbu.

yeah i will try and get a pic of him up on here.

just fed him today three cockles and he eat them still did the coughing and hes swiming about looks ok but still not him self

my sisters mate has a mbu in a 360 litre tank and hes about 12inch long they have had him four 3 years and he seems very happy puffer.

Please read the article on them in our Library & another at the top of the FW Puffer forum.

We also need exact water parameters.

As far as your & your sister's fish, it may be OK for a while but as this fish can grow over 2' (60cm), your sister's tank (95g) will not be large enough to house that fish for long.

My puffer sometimes looks like he's choking and coughing too. It worries me, but it doesn't happen too often. Anybody else?
Sorry I have no info on the white bumps.... wait...maybe....

Pin head little white spots, and he looks like he's in a bad mood?.... I don't really know about MBU's specifically, I have a gsp.... maybe it could be his spines??? Maybe he is grumpy. You said the white's on his eyes too?...hmmm... Would really love a picture!

Good luck

ok first thanx for the replys,i have managed to get a picture of him which shows the white dots,but dont know how too put pics up..

ive also noticed his right eye is clouded over and starting too on his left eye and it looks like bits are peeling off.

water parimiters are
NO3 50
NO2 0
GH all 3 are 16d
KH 3d
PH 7.2
And i did a 50% water change on weds.

50 nitrates is way too high for a puffer.

I've found they start to show problems as early as 20.

That is a definate sign of overstocking. In a properly maintained and stocked tank, you should be able to maintain 10 or less nitrates with weekly 50% water changes easily.

Do a series of water changes over the next couple days, try to get them as low as possible. And start looking for a very, very, VERY large tank!

I actually do 75-80% weekly WC on my FW tanks now.

So do I, but its just for the bonus of lots of clean water. My nitrates are barely readable.

But if 50% weekly isn't keeping them under 10-20, IMO that's an overstocked tank.

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ok here is the pics of my ill puffer as you can see on his tail and head there is little white dots there bits on his fins too, and as you can see his eyes are clouded over

ive started treating him with melafix