The Puffer Forum

You can find epsom salt at a pharmacy pretty easily.

I also feed him live crayfish. He doesn't like anything besides shrimp and live crayfish. I thought that that would be ok because I soak his food in vitamins. He's very picky and doesnt like change; definatly has his own personality. Thanks for the tip on Epsom salt.

Check out the article on foods in our Library, more more variety. Vitamins are good but if you ate 1-2 foods w/vitamins everyday, would that be good enough? You might want to QT the crays.

Here are some more pics. I put 1TBSP per 10G Epsom salt this morning and no changes. He's not floating with his head up anymore, just lying upside down... Dosn't this look like air in him? I've tried to burp him by rubbing his stomach and shaking him, but it dosn't work I don't know what to do. If he stays like this he's just going to starve to death!

has he eaten recently? from these pictures it definitely looks like he's swallowed something or is blocked up inside. maybe something wrong with his swim bladder (i'm assuming puffer's have one). maybe he swollowd some gravel? (not sure if thats even a problem with puffers). i dunno, just trying to sound out some ideas

It would take a couple of months for a fish that size to starve to death. Looks more like some kind of blockage. Do you know the last time it pooed? Did you add the Epsom salt?

Is the lump hard? Does it move around?

Pufferpunk wrote:It would take a couple of months for a fish that size to starve to death. Looks more like some kind of blockage. Do you know the last time it pooed? Did you add the Epsom salt?

I don't know the last time he pooped. I did add the Epsom salt 1TBSP per 10G this morning. So it's been about 12hrs with the Epsom salt. Should I add more? Would constipation cause him to not be able to turn upright?

x0rtrunks wrote:Is the lump hard? Does it move around?

It seems like when I take him in my hands to burp him that the bump kinda goes away or flattens out...

Sorry, don't know a whole lot about constipation, except that Epsom salt helps. I'm just guesing that's what it might be. I'd double the Epsom salt now, if you want. That would be another tbsp/10g.

Malie wrote:has he eaten recently? from these pictures it definitely looks like he's swallowed something or is blocked up inside. maybe something wrong with his swim bladder (i'm assuming puffer's have one). maybe he swallowed some gravel? (not sure if thats even a problem with puffers). i dunno, just trying to sound out some ideas

There is nothing he can eat in the tank and I have never seen him eat gravel before. I don't know if puffers have a swim bladder... But that would explain why he can't swim right.

sounds liek a block in his stomach, maybe a shell or carapace that he didnt get chewed right

best thing you can do if he continues to degrade, is read the puffer dentistry article, and using clove oil anestitize him, and see if you cannot pull out or see whats stuck in him

a good set of tweezers and a small but bright flashlight, and a friend or another set of hands is all you should need

Think he'll be able to see that far into the fish? I'd try a long pair of hemostats. The gravel is too small to be what's in there, so maybe it's something else, like Jager said.

The only thing that he would get stuck in him would be shrimp shells because I haven't fed him any crayfish in at leas a month. I'll try adding more epsom salt tomorrow and if that dosn't work then I'll try to see if I can do what Jagar said. Thanks

Shrimp shells should be fairly "soft" & easily digestable for a puffer that size. Nothing else in your tank, he might have eaten? Plastic plants?