The Puffer Forum

YAY! glad to hear the good sign.
... I hope there's not eggs

Wouldn't you keep on treating for the worm long after it's passed for the eggs?


PS: Only on this forum could we drink to black poop. I love you guys.

If I keep treating her it won't kill the eggs until the eggs hatch. I'm going to wait a while (maybe 3-4 weeks) and treat her again. First I have got to get her to eat on her own. That's my next priority.



A big "THANK YOU" to everyone that helped me through this and those that gave support along the way!

I'm so glad to hear she's doing well! Here's to no more worms!

well done to you and puffer. It's been traumatic! Now to the feeding!

I'm so relieved to hear that! Hunt and eat, Annabelle, you can do it!

...........here's a big huggin for annabelle and her puffer mom.....whooooohwooooo.....
i'm soooooooooo relieved.....
now eat annabelle....you and your mom have gone thru enough about now young lady.....

Ra says eat it's soooo good.......

Pufferpunk,
Annabelle is still not eating. I posted in marine depot for pufferqueen and she has not answered. I tried to send her a private message but her box is full. The finquel will be here friday. I'm going to try and tube feed her. I have a few questions:

How often can I use finquel?

I read that you should use 1 dose of finquel and 1 dose of baking soda. If I use her tank water with finquel do I still need to dose it with baking soda? Does it change the ph?

I tried to feed her again with the syringe, she starts to roll like an alligator and spits it all out. I've tried holding her but I don't want to hurt her. She's fine when I scoop her out of the tank and when I hold her in the bowl but once I get the syringe in her mouth she goes into a death roll. I feel like this is my only other option.

The baking soda is to make your water harder, because Finquil will work faster in harder water, slower in softer water.

What is your water like now? If you have soft water, the baking soda will be a good idea, but if your water is hard, you shouldn't need it. The instructions that come with the Finquil will explain it. Hmm, actually, they don't talk about it at all now that I'm looking at them. I know I read it somewhere...

I can't believe she looks this good after everything she's been through. Wow, you're doing a great job. Have you tried mixing any Garlic Guard or anything like that in the pureed shrimp?

Pufferpunk wrote:YIPPEE!!! She's worm free! Unless they layed eggs in her...

Tapeworm does not lay eggs in the host. The body segments called proglottids drop off in the feces and are ingested by snails/clams/shrimp ect, and then they hatch and go through a few stages of devellopment in the intermediary host. The puffer then finds these crunchy nummies and eats them..and on and on it goes, it's the song that never ends..

So Pandora, How does she prevent re-infestation?

I used the Finquil with just tank water & he went out fine.

Sounds great thanks. It should be here today.
My water in her tank is Amm.0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0, ph 7.0-7.2 I'll have to test it again. The ph went up a little after all the water changes.

Myaj wrote: I can't believe she looks this good after everything she's been through. Wow, you're doing a great job. Have you tried mixing any Garlic Guard or anything like that in the pureed shrimp?

Thanks Myaj,
I've been using extreme garlic. She was so close last night. She went over to the piece of shrimp bit it then spit it out. She's being stubborn. She has been very active the last few days, swimming all over the tank chasing guppies, and ghost shrimp. Although I haven't seen her eat any. I've tried clam, mussell, crab and shrimp soaked in extreme garlic and I'll try again tonight. She acts intrested in the food but she just won't eat it.

Pufferpunk wrote:So Pandora, How does she prevent re-infestation?

I used the Finquil with just tank water & he went out fine.

Basicly, she has to make sure any live food that is NOT eaten like right away, is taken out of the tank.

There is no real way to prevent re-infestation. All mollusks have the potential to carry it, even human grade foods *hence why we cook it*

She should just keep treating her every 3 months with gel-tek or whatever as a preventative...this tapeworm is zoonotic...aka humans can get it too...

I beleve in the olden days, women used tapeworms as a weight loss remedy. EEEEEEWWWWWW!!!