Hello Everyone.
I recently adopted a small porcupine puffer (about 4 inches). His skin was literally rotting off him when I got him and he was covered in white fuzz. Anyways, treated him for fungus, ich, and bacteria and he seemed to heal up nice. However, some spots I thought were just damaged spines have turned out to be what appears as parasites protruding through his skin and dangling off. Imagine Bits of rice hanging off my puffer. I've tried meds from the store but they don't seem to help, just make my puffer miserable. Any advice on what to do for my Puff?
Help! My Puffer has worms! :(
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.
Help! My Puffer has worms! :(
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Pufferpunk
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burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
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Re: Help! My Puffer has worms! :(
Looks like shedding spines, to me. Congrats on getting him better.
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: Help! My Puffer has worms! :(
but they haven't shed and they are white and too misformed to be spines. They pop out at spots that don't fit the pattern of the rest of his spines and they haven't fallen off in over a month. Some of them have even gotten longer. I know it's not clear in the picture but in life they are obviously foreign objects.
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sgtmyers88
- Moderator
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Re: Help! My Puffer has worms! :(
Can you physically try to poke at them and try to possibly remove them with something? Getting a closer look and seeing how easily they can be removed may be your best bet.
WARNING: Puffers are mischievous little blimps with enchanting powers. You may not be content with having just one.
Re: Help! My Puffer has worms! :(
No, I have not tried to physically remove them. One, because of the difficulty of getting the puffer to stay still while I attempt it, and two, I am afraid that since these worms appear to be attached to the internals of my puffer, that trying to simply pull one out may do more damage then good.
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32987
- 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: Help! My Puffer has worms! :(
I stand by my original diagnosis.
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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Arny
- Mbu Puffer
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- Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2010 4:33 pm
- Location (country): uk
- Location: London
Re: Help! My Puffer has worms! :(
They're def just spines that have bent out of place. My Porcy had the same thing happen. If he puffs up you'll notice that they'll just blend in with the other spines.
Re: Help! My Puffer has worms! :(
I have never had a porky before only GSPs so maybe this is what broke spines look like and you guys are right. I hope so. but I don't see how they can be spines even broken ones. They are limp like noodles, they are completely white, they do not straiten when he puffs, they are irregularly shaped, and they don't look attached to the puffer in the same way as the spines either.
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32987
- 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: Help! My Puffer has worms! :(
Not broken, shedding. Seen it often before. Not to worry.
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: Help! My Puffer has worms! :(
Ok, I will calm down. Thanks for the reassurance everyone. I'm sure my puff will appreciate not being quarantined and dosed again.
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sgtmyers88
- Moderator
- Posts: 1296
- Joined: Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:37 am
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- My Puffers: Green Spotted Puffers
- Location (country): USA
- Contact:
Re: Help! My Puffer has worms! :(
On the bright side he is extra clean and healthy and will likely stay that way with a cautious and concerned owner like you! lol
WARNING: Puffers are mischievous little blimps with enchanting powers. You may not be content with having just one.