# MBU Puffer



## Ginger3144 (Aug 22, 2008)

Hi,

I'm new to this forum and was looking for some urgent help with a Mbu puffer. Our puffer has been fine since we bought him 10 months ago but hasn't seemed well for the past week. He is having trouble with boyancy - periodically he flaps his fins and moves to the surface then sinks like a stone and lays lethargically on the sand for long periods of time. 
He still shows an interest in food and responds to our presence near the tank but has motionless periods when he seems to breath heavier than usual as if he has worn himself out. 
His colour hasn't changed and he turns lighter when on the sand. He has no unusual markings or discolouration and hasn't puffed up that we know of or been taken out of the water.
1. Size of aquarium (# of gallons) 6x4x4 APPROX
2. Is your aquarium setup freshwater or brackish water? FRESHWATER
3. How long the aquarium has been set up? 1 YR (2 MONTHS WITH COMMUNITY FISH BEFORE PUFFER WAS INTRODUCED)
4. What fish and how many are in the aquarium (species are important to know) 11 COMMUNITY, ARMERD CAT, TALKING CAT, KISSER, GOURAMI'S ANGEL.
5. Are there live plants in the aquarium? YES
6. What temperature is the tank water currently? 78
7. What make/model filter are you using? EXTERNAL, GOOD!
8. Are you using a CO2 unit? NO
9. Does your aquarium receive natural sunlight at any given part of the day? YES
10. When did you perform your last water exchange, and how much water was changed? TWO WEEKS AGO AND WAS 50% DUE TO PROBLEMS WITH FILTER 
11. How often do you perform water changes? WATER CHANGE TWICE A MONTH, BUT CLEAN THE WAST AFTER FEEDING
12. How often and what foods do you feed your fish? BLOOD WORM FOR OTHER FISH AND CATFISH PELLETS. FOR PUFFER WE FEED PRAWNS, MUSSELS AND COCKELS 
13. What type of lighting are you using and how long is it kept on? STANDARD FOR 8 HOURS A DAY 
14. What specific concerns bring you here at this time? SEE ABOVE 
15. What are your water parameters? Test your pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. PH 7.2 AMMONIA 0 NITRITE 0.
16. What test kit are you using and is it liquid or test strips? LIQUIID 
17. When was the last time you bought a fish and how did they behave while in the pet store tank?10 MONTHS AGO, MBU WAS THE LAST IN!

ANY HELP WELCOME!


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## okiemavis (Nov 10, 2007)

Ok, a few questions...

-is your tank really 718 gallons? cuz 6x4x4= 96 cubic feet which is about 718 gallons...
-how large is the puffer? how much has he grown in the 10 months you've had him?
-has he displayed any loss of weight? is he skinny, pudgy?
-what are your nitrates, kh and gh?
-what kind of filter (filterS i'd assume) do you have? What is the gallons per hour rating?

In the meantime, I'd recommend stepping up your water change regimen to 25% twice a week. Puffers are sensitive to water quality and there's nothing better for an ailing fish than super clean water.


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