# Help! - Mbu not eating!!



## L!$A (Apr 21, 2010)

Hey everyone.. as most of you know ben_mbu and I have a mbu puffer fish named Kaleeko. He has been acting pretty strange recently.. he hasn't eaten for 3 days. We put a cray in the tank.. and needless to say the cray is still alive. We have not changed anything recently.. other then the light schedule. 

Test results from last night
pH: 6.4
Ammonia: 0
Nitrates: 50>20
Nitrites: 0
KH: 4 drops to yellow (soft)
GH: < 20mg

The only thing that I can possibly think of is the KH, GH and maybe pH but they are all stable and Kaleeko has been in these water parameters for almost a year and hasn't had any problems until now.. is he possibly becoming more senstive, or possibly sick??


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## Rastapus (Apr 21, 2010)

Tetraodon mbu are harder water fish preferring GH in the 10-15 dh range. 20 ppm is very soft still. It may or may not be a factor with your issue but I would fix it regardless. This in turn will adjust the pH up a bit which is a good thing. These guys are wild caught so it is best to give them similar water parameters to what they are used to .


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## beN (Apr 21, 2010)

how about Datnoids? can they handle the higher PH or is it time to take those suckers out??


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## Rastapus (Apr 21, 2010)

Datnoid prefer medium hardness, what you have is SUPER soft in terms of GH. 6-8 dh would be much better for these guys.


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## L!$A (Apr 21, 2010)

Grant, funny you say that, I was just talking about that with Ben last night.
Would a bit of Crush coral in a mesh bag in the filter be a good solution to keep the pH and KH/GH stable enough??


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## Rastapus (Apr 21, 2010)

L!$A said:


> Grant, funny you say that, I was just talking about that with Ben last night.
> Would a bit of Crush coral in a mesh bag in the filter be a good solution to keep the pH and KH/GH stable enough??


Crushed coral will only adjust the pH. Take a look at my sticky on this subject under my sub forum. Many hobbyists rely on crushed coral to maintain their water. This is where the problem starts, it creates stability to pH but as I have been trying to get across for many months now, pH is not our problem but problems in pH is caused by the hardness problem. Many hobbyists are fixing the symptoms, not the cause.


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## L!$A (Apr 21, 2010)

aha, gotcha. what would be a solution for harder water are there other alternatives than just buffer?


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## Rastapus (Apr 21, 2010)

L!$A said:


> aha, gotcha. what would be a solution for harder water are there other alternatives than just buffer?


Salt will raise GH effectively. We use marine salt to take advantage of the minor trace elements in there as well. Remember these guys are found in Lake Tanganyika as well so they are used to some salt. Another option would be to move to another province, bit drastic though. This is a localized BC problem.


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## L!$A (Apr 21, 2010)

haha I love BC..  So salt it is then.


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## Rastapus (Apr 21, 2010)

L!$A said:


> haha I love BC..  So salt it is then.


I figured. Just in case there is any confusion, most aquarium salts are evaporated sea salts, so no harm in using marine salt.


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## L!$A (Apr 21, 2010)

Good to know, thanks


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## beN (Apr 21, 2010)

yes, thanks Grant.


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## taureandragon76 (Apr 21, 2010)

What I found with my Fahaka was that as he ages he seems to be less voracious. He went through a good period where he didn't eat much at all. Also have you upgraded his tank yet? Maybe he is unhappy with his tank size? I know when I upgraded my fahaka to a bigger tank he became a different fish.


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## Digger (Apr 22, 2010)

i thought salt and puffers do not mix well due to being a scaleless fish unless the type of puffers require brackish water?


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## L!$A (Apr 21, 2010)

Good news, he ate a little bit last night


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## Rastapus (Apr 21, 2010)

I agree with taureandragon76, their appetite will slow down as they age. Just like us!


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