We picked up our new 3" A. manilensis from the LFS a few hours ago. At the store, he was very active and curious; "kissing" fingers through the glass, checking the substrate for bits of food, etc. After acclimation, we put him in his QT tank and he was as lively as at the store, so after a few hours we fed him our usual "welcome home" pre-opened live clam. He ate it with great gusto, but after the first couple of mouthfuls it seemed to go into the wrong place. He developed a bubble forward of the location food usually goes to on his right side, right under his pectoral fin. It looks like something may be coming out of the lump (shown in both photos); we've wiped it off twice, but it keeps coming back. We have not seen an open wound so far (he isn't easy to hold upside down). He's still acting the same as he has been. We've never seen anything like this before; does anyone have advice?
Exploded Puffer?
Forum rules
Read this before posting!!
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.
Read this before posting!!
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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FishFan
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Exploded Puffer?
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There has to be a point.
There has to be a point.
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Nick
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Re: Exploded Puffer?
Perhaps an aggravated abscess? Was anything he ate pointy?
No matter how magnificent your successes or devastating your failures, the worlds' approximately 5 billion impoverished people could not possibly care less.
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FishFan
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Re: Exploded Puffer?
He didn't eat anything pointy in our care, just the squishy insides of a clam. He was checking the gravel at the LFS pretty thoroughly, but he did not appear to be swallowing any, and was not underweight.
The lump is gone now, and he's pretty plump, but there's still a spot on the bottom that looks as if something may be coming out. We're hopefully just being over-protective fishie parents.
The lump is gone now, and he's pretty plump, but there's still a spot on the bottom that looks as if something may be coming out. We're hopefully just being over-protective fishie parents.
A = Anne, R =Robert
There has to be a point.
There has to be a point.
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Myaj
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Re: Exploded Puffer?
Hmm... Well, my first reaction would be Melafix, clean water and keep an eye on it. Hopefully its not food coming out a hole in his side, but I doubt he'd look that good if it was. I'm thinking an abscessed pocket with "pus" being pushed out of it when he eats. In which case, antibiotics wouldn't be a bad idea, if it doesn't heal up in a few days.
Melafix will make a skimmer go nuts though, if you have one.
I LOVE that species, always have. Keep us updated on how it goes with him.
Melafix will make a skimmer go nuts though, if you have one.
I LOVE that species, always have. Keep us updated on how it goes with him.
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Pufferpunk
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Re: Exploded Puffer?
I'm thinking abcess too. Has anyone heard from Puffer Queen lately?
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
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"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
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crazedpuffer
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Re: Exploded Puffer?
I've seen her on RC about 2-3 days ago.
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FishFan
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Re: Exploded Puffer?
The little guy continues being active and inquisitive, showing no signs of distress. Today we gave him an inch long piece of night crawler, which he slurped down like fish-spaghetti. 
This time there were no odd lumps, and no food seemed to be extruded from the wrong place. We're keeping our fingers crossed and will put a call in to the vet if anything changes. We have not added Melafix, as we are uncertain of its effectiveness in saltwater, and speaking of PufferQueen, iirc, she didn't recommend it in saltwater. We are also uncertain which antibiotic to use, and have not tried that, either. He's cuter than a bug, and we dared to name him.
This time there were no odd lumps, and no food seemed to be extruded from the wrong place. We're keeping our fingers crossed and will put a call in to the vet if anything changes. We have not added Melafix, as we are uncertain of its effectiveness in saltwater, and speaking of PufferQueen, iirc, she didn't recommend it in saltwater. We are also uncertain which antibiotic to use, and have not tried that, either. He's cuter than a bug, and we dared to name him. You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
A = Anne, R =Robert
There has to be a point.
There has to be a point.
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Pufferpunk
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Re: Exploded Puffer?
Sooooo... what's his name?
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
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FishFan
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Re: Exploded Puffer?
His name is pretty geeky... Zooty. Our unnamed Stars and Stripes Puffer got the name Rebo at the same time.
A = Anne, R =Robert
There has to be a point.
There has to be a point.
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Jase
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Re: Exploded Puffer?
Like the suit right?FishFan wrote:His name is pretty geeky... Zooty. Our unnamed Stars and Stripes Puffer got the name Rebo at the same time.
-Jase
edmlfc1 wrote:A house without a puffer is not a home.
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FishFan
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Re: Exploded Puffer?
When the name was first suggested, it was the suit Robert had in mind. The name pair settled on, Rebo and Zooty, comes from Babylon 5. 
Last edited by FishFan on Mon Mar 31, 2008 6:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
A = Anne, R =Robert
There has to be a point.
There has to be a point.
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Jase
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Re: Exploded Puffer?
sorry... I don't know what that is.
-Jase
edmlfc1 wrote:A house without a puffer is not a home.
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FishFan
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Re: Exploded Puffer?
Jase,
The best way to explain it is to recommend googling "Babylon 5 Rebo and Zooty".
The best way to explain it is to recommend googling "Babylon 5 Rebo and Zooty".
A = Anne, R =Robert
There has to be a point.
There has to be a point.
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Jase
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Re: Exploded Puffer?
never mind, I'm pretty sure I've seen it before
-Jase
edmlfc1 wrote:A house without a puffer is not a home.