How long does it take for a puffed Pufferfish to unpuff?

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Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.

We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.

While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.

Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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DebbieOhi
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How long does it take for a puffed Pufferfish to unpuff?

Post by DebbieOhi »

Would anyone know how long it take for a puffed Pufferfish to unpuff after the triggering stimulus (e.g. perception of danger) goes away?

Thanks kindly for any help,

Debbie
Illustrator, SEA-MONKEY AND BOB, a picture book written by Aaron Rynolds about a Sea-Monkey and a puffer fish, coming out from Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers in Fall 2015. Additional info: About Debbie | Debbie's other books. Twitter: @inkyelbows.
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Re: How long does it take for a puffed Pufferfish to unpuff?

Post by RTR »

The neurological release is quite fast. If the fish is puffed with water, the physical process is still rapid, ~ seconds. If the fish is puffed with air, the physical release is problematic. To work, the fish must be in the proper orientation for the open valve to properly aligned to vent the ingested air bubble, and the fish may not have the physical strength to get into the right attitude/angle for air release. the owner must assist if this is the case. The instructions are here on the site, but someone else will need to give you the URL as I don't have it bookmarked (my viewing program is not the same as the board's, It eats time for me to find addresses, sorry about that.
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hadla
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Re: How long does it take for a puffed Pufferfish to unpuff?

Post by hadla »

library/hospital/help-my-puffer-is-air-filled/

Usually they deflate within a few seconds if filled with water
Never trust big puffers. The fingers you save may be your own. -RTR
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DMD123
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Re: How long does it take for a puffed Pufferfish to unpuff?

Post by DMD123 »

This is Scruffy my hairy puffer

At full puff
Image

With in seconds he is deflating, and then its done.
Image

When deflating, it looks like he is burping and then down to his normal little self.
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Re: How long does it take for a puffed Pufferfish to unpuff?

Post by casc »

Sometimes I get lucky enough to catch juke as he is beginning to puff and it seems like he holds it a little longer. If he is already puffed, the second I get over there he starts spitting out water. I couldn't upload a photo but if you check out my gallery, it has some nice porcupine puffer pictures and a puffed up porc pic
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DebbieOhi
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Re: How long does it take for a puffed Pufferfish to unpuff?

Post by DebbieOhi »

Thank you SO much for this info! It sounds as if a puffer can deflate quickly, then.

Your answers are much appreciated!

Debbie
Illustrator, SEA-MONKEY AND BOB, a picture book written by Aaron Rynolds about a Sea-Monkey and a puffer fish, coming out from Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers in Fall 2015. Additional info: About Debbie | Debbie's other books. Twitter: @inkyelbows.
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Re: How long does it take for a puffed Pufferfish to unpuff?

Post by RTR »

But air inflation can be an entirely different. Air expulsion require the puffer to be positioned such that their release valve is pointed upward. Otherwise the air stays in and they can exhaust themselves trying to get rid of it. then owner assistance is required.
Where's the fish? - Neptune
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