The Puffer Forum

I really didn't know much about the innards of a puffer but when I opened up the suvattii that only lived 6 weeks for me but it's liver was yellow & hard as a rock. Just from HS biology, I do know it's supposed to be soft & pink.

When I took a tumor out of mine I diden't have to look at the liver. It was not in view in the incision I made to remove the tumor and the fish was otherwise healthy.
I have taken large tumors off many fish and so far none of them got an infection or anything else. Fish have great capacity to heal which seems much better than ours considering the bacteria filled medium they live in

Thanks for sharing your experience with us Paul! I have always tried to keep up with my pets and different ailments that might strike but I'll tell you fish are one of a kind. Who would think one would do what we do to save our fish.

I think after this, maybe more folks should try removing those pesky nematodes!

Not everyone has the stomach to cut into a living creature, especially when the tool you're using is almost as big as the thing you're cutting into.

Haha. I dont know if i could do that. I would be so scared that id kill him. Howd you cover it up?

Does the fish stop bleeding right away or do you have to stop the bleeding before putting them back in the tank?

Pufferpunk wrote:I think after this, maybe more folks should try removing those pesky nematodes!

you can remove them?

I'm just a little confused, so what do you do after you've done the surgery??? do you need to stitch them up at all, or did you just put some iodine on and throw them back in the tank and hope for the best???

fish heal remarkably fast and well. think how they heal in the wild...
as long as the water quality is good I don't think they need anything other than the iodine.

That's true. My fahaka bit a huge chunk out of the gut of a large Bosmani raimbow. I thought for sure it would get infected but it healed quite well. Until he finally ate it 2 years later...

yum!

lol

Not everyone has the stomach to cut into a living creature, especially when the tool you're using is almost as big as the thing you're cutting into.

Then you will just have to let him die.

Fish don't hardly bleed unless you cut into an organ. If I were going to do an operation on one today I would seal it with crazy glue. They diden't have that stuff then.
I would also put neomycin and chlorimphenicol in the water.
I have never had a problem cutting anything off a fish. I once removed a large growth on a moray eel in a wholesalers. They are hard to operate on befause they are impossable to hold because of the slime, and they bite.
Of course we can't do much internal operations on a fish unless it is a tumor that is near the skin or some external growth.

My f8's spent a couple months in full SW when I had no other choice, and didn't notice any ill effect, though I did theorize at the time it would probably wear down their immune system in the long run. Perhaps they simply need a certain minimum carbonate hardness or other trace mineral do do well in captivity. It's good to know mine are unlikely to have shorter lives for their experience.

Wouldn't doing a autopsy on a puffer be semi dangerous with there toxic liver?