[beN]

We woke up this morning to our Mbu puffer lying on his side on the bottom of the tank. So I picked up him up gently with my hand to see if he was dead. He wasn't. So I brought him to the surface where began to take in air of course! So Im worried, he is now floating on the surface slowly letting air out and gaining back his strength & breathing steady . Has anyone had this experience before??

 

[Sandy Landau]

Is this the same puffer that was recently not eating?

We woke up this morning to our Mbu puffer lying on his side on the bottom of the tank. So I picked up him up gently with my hand to see if he was dead. He wasn't. So I brought him to the surface where began to take in air of course! So Im worried, he is now floating on the surface slowly letting air out and gaining back his strength & breathing steady . Has anyone had this experience before??

 

[beN]

yes, but then he actually got better and eat like a pig..no joke like 5 prawns a day..lol but as of this morning , well ya not to good. he ate last night also.

 

[ibenu]

If he's not floating there is no air so he should be able to delflate himself. I read that fahaka's have been known to puff to get food (learned) but that doesnt sound like your situation. I would treat him like a nervous bird and black out the tank... not look again till tonight. But as I have no puffer its based on just not disturbing him further and allowing him to depuff without further stress.. I wouldnt put my hands in the tank any more, leave him be. Good luck.

 

[taureandragon76]

Is he still floating on the surface? If he puffed up with air they can't expell it on their own, you will have to burp him. Check out the pufferforum, if you need to burp him there is an article in the library explaing how to properly do it.

 

[Mferko]

lol burping a puffer?
do u pat it on the back?

 

[Johnnyfishtanks]

call me ben if you have a chance

 

[taureandragon76]

You lay it in your hands back down and push on his belly from tail to head pushing the air out. Pretty serious thing if a puffer fills up with air it can and will die if the air is not released.

 

[Mferko]

mebbe more of an issue with mbu than other puffers?

 

[Johnnyfishtanks]

my puffers puff up all the time out of the water when i move them in buckets. in the wild they do the same thing when they catch them . they release them then there fine . it maybe could be the case but i think it something else

 

[Mferko]

can you burp them by using a q-tip or something to hit their gag reflex? or do they even have that?

 

[Johnnyfishtanks]

have you just done a water change our anything ?

 

[Pamela]

Is it possible that your Puffer ate bad prawns? My Gulper Catfish tank got severe food poisoning last month from prawns (frozen ones bought from Safeway).

 

[pinkjell]

hows the little guy doing today?