The Puffer Forum

I can't imagine the fish has filled with air unless they were inflating at the waters surface. i think the problem is more likely to be one of constipation.

my girlfriend said he got really excited and possibly... possibly caught some air on coming to the surface.

hes now furiously trying to swim down (head 1st). he can reach the bottom (also head 1st) but quickly gets tired and floats to the surface.

Sounds like trapped air to me, not constipation. Never seen or heard of constipation keeping a fish bobbing near the surface.

It seems like when they go in for a bite they also create some suction. When leaping up from teh water at the food it's very plausible he could have sucked in a gulp of air. Similar situations have happened before.

What makes you think constipation? And what about the discription is different from "inflating" at the water surface? Gulping soem air by accident is basically the same as inflating, no?

Boxermom wrote:

my girlfriend said he got really excited and possibly... possibly caught some air on coming to the surface.

hes now furiously trying to swim down (head 1st). he can reach the bottom (also head 1st) but quickly gets tired and floats to the surface.

Sounds like trapped air to me, not constipation. Never seen or heard of constipation keeping a fish bobbing near the surface.

It's not uncommon at all. It happens frequently in fancy strains of goldfish, where the swimbladder becomes misshapen due to a blockage of food in the body. It happens frequently in these fish because of their "unnatural" and "Irregular" bodyshapes.

For a puffer to take in air at the surface and, trap air by trying to feed from the surface, to me seems less plausible than it suffering an internal blockage, be it constipation, inflammation or otherwise, pressuring the swimbladder and affecting the natural bouyancy.

That's a tougher sell IMO.

As I said, my SAP's would excitedly gulp air at the surface at feeding time.

They'd often bloat up a bit but it would go down rather quickly. I can see how if they gulped a bit too much they'd be in a heck of a lot of trouble.

Constipation is something that could have happened too though, although the fish started having issues immediately after feeding, not several hours later.

i've actually had this situation happened to me before onb my second fahaka puffer, out of nowhere my puffer looks fine but keep on floating on top of the tank and skip his meal for a weak and just died out on me! i hope this situation wont happen to you but for now i wouldn't even try to burp him or touch him, jsut let him relax and check ur water quatily everyday and watch and observe his behavior especially feeding time and look at his eyes real closely see if they have this kind of sad look, where his eye look down at the gravel, because by trying to burp him, you would just stress him out more, its best to leave it alone and provide cave and plants into ur tank and c how he is doing from there. by the way, its not your gf fault that ur fahaka puffer is in this condition, its no one to blame really its just fahaka and their feeling, mood, for the day.

KHOA TRAN-LE, did you try to burp your puffer at all, when this happened?

YES I HAVE. THAT STUFF IS BS BECAUSE IT JUST STRESS OUT THE PUFFER.

very interesting responses guys... you will all be glad to know that Bonobo is ok now. i understand what your saying about stressing him out trying to burp him. i was very gentle with him and just massaged his stomach for him. it did however seem to do nothing.

after my last post i did notice a few tiny bubbles emerging from his anus... he did also seem to have trouble pooing. overnight his inflated body went down and he is very well and excitable again now.

hes splashing at the surface more now to! i think after the attention i gave him when he was inflated makes him want to do it again! better not do that to me again!

i think in future the best advice is to give it time before burping is carried out, this should probably only be done as a last measure, especially if you can see your puffer doesnt like it. fortunately mine seemed to like the attension.

anyway... all is well, thank you all for looking, giving me your opinions and advice and most of all for the quick responses. you calmed my nerves to no end!

thank you all x

glad to hear it turned out alright!