Well, unfortunately bad news is to be told.
Friday night I came home from work and the store, had a nice little shrimp tail for him, bought a nice fresh one, not frozen, I have a pretty nice meat/fish market in my grocery store. I tried wiggling it in front of his face by hand, that didn't work, I think he was more intimidated by my hand than he was enticed by the shrimp.
So I went out to my garage, grabbed some of my fishing line, went back to the kitchen, punched a hole through the end of the tail and went "puffer fishin". Did some sweet jiggin' and trollin' and strait up hittin him in the face with it. Finally he took a little nip and it was on, he went after the shrimp like crazy, considering his size this didnt take long, he ate the whole thing aside from the small bit of the tail that had the string, didn't want him to eat that.
So I went to bed happy. I woke up saturday morning and went down to check out the tank, absolutely no good going on there. water was crystal clear, I did tests (trites, trates, amonia, etc) everything was normal, the puffer very much was not. I have found nothing to fit what happened to this guy, so give me a hand if you can. Here is the explanation of his state.
His eyes had gone completely cloudy (they looked gray, not just cloudy) they had also sunken into his head, his eyes used to be huge puppy eyes, they were now small little gray circles of unhappy. He was also completely coated in a thick film of goo, thats the only thing that I can call it, there was no other explanation. As well as this thick coat, he also had.... tentacles? they were small, thin, moving things... there was approximately 10 or 12 of these things, they were approximately 1/4" to 1-1/2" long, and thread thin. I figured that maybe they were just part of the goo and just waving in the current, so I shut off the filter and airstone for a short time to see if they still moved, and though the puffer was not moving, they were most definitely moving, randomly, independent of eachother. I have looked up anchor worm, and it does not look like this, I of course could not find my freaking camera. He was also breathing very, very heavy.
When I turned on the light, apparently he was able to see that, but nothing else, because he started swimming around the tank slamming into everything, I figure he was blind. I turned the light back off and tried to do some research to figure out what to do next.
Within the next few hours I witnessed him puff to full size twice, then he puffed one final time, mostly deflated, and then laid down and stopped breathing. It was over, I was sad.
The only thing that I can say is, I tried. I got him in horrible shape, thought I had him better, and then something ungodly and nothing I can figure out happened to him. If you can shed some light on this, please do, if you have questions, I can try to answer them, but I only know so much of what happened.
On the bright side, I have fallen for the little guys, and will be finishing the tank that I was building for the puffer, and I will find a living memorial of the little guy in a new porcupine puffer once everything is set up and totally ready. I will start a new thread with questions later. For now, thank you all for the support and help, and good luck with all your puffers!
Porcupine not in good shape with ich
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.
Re: Porcupine not in good shape with ich
Oh no! 
I'm so sorry, I was really hoping he was gonna get better. 
I'm so sorry, I was really hoping he was gonna get better. -
Idontknow
- Green Spotted Puffer
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- Location: Japan
Re: Porcupine not in good shape with ich
I think you did a good job considering the uphill battle that you had. I am sure you gave him lots of love.
Sorry for your loss.
Sorry for your loss.
Multi-tank syndrome
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marksrush
- Fahaka Puffer
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Re: Porcupine not in good shape with ich
Sorry to hear about it, it's not easy losing a puffer.
Re: Porcupine not in good shape with ich
Try posting at http://www.reefcentral.com, they have a lot more members with experience in marine disease.
Sorry for your loss.
Sorry for your loss.
Re: Porcupine not in good shape with ich
Thanks everyone, I did try the best I could and was instantly infatuated with the little guy, I can't wait to get another one but it will be on the right foot this time.
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
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burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
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Re: Porcupine not in good shape with ich
Wow, that's awful! If nothing else, you've learned to at least start out with a healthy-looking fish.
If nothing else, you've learned to at least start out with a healthy-looking fish.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!"
Re: Porcupine not in good shape with ich
Well, I already knew to start with healthy fish, but he was such a puppy and was getting treated so horribly even when sick that I had to at least try to give him a chance.
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32979
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
Re: Porcupine not in good shape with ich
Well, you certainly did try & you also learned how to do hypo now.
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!"