The Puffer Forum

Is it safe for a chef with internal parasites to be cooking food? Well, I suppose as long as its cooked? Doesnt' sound like that area is too worried about health issues though.

Jeni, your brother sounds like Ryan's brother. He's "squatting" on someone's property on a mountain out west somewhere, making a living by herding goats and growing mushrooms (not the legal kind).. and he once tried to impress a girl by stuffing a pistol down the front of his pants and accidentaly shot of one of his.. well, lets just say it wasn't a toe! His parents send him money, but are pretty much just waiting for the day the get the letter that he did something a little TOO self-destructive.

Damn! I'm glad my brothers have turned out kinda normal...

I really don't think my brother got over being addopted... He even has a son of his own who lived in Malaysia now. He has n't seen him since he was 2, I think. Says he never knew his father, shey should his son? I would think ht'd think the opposite.

I don't think he's quite as bad as Ryan's brother though... Just kind of a lost soul who thinks he's fine. He's always calling me to help out with advise for his drug addict friends. A sure sign you have problems when you constantly hang out with folks worse off than yourself, to compare with them. Makes you seem not so bad off after all... He does hold a part-time job & live in a house on top of a mountain. He takes in strays a lot & I don't mean cats. Mostly girls.

Talk about off topic!
Anyway, eat Annabelle!!!!

That's ok PP, I forgive you.

Anyway back to topic:
I tried to get Annabelle to eat again this morning and now I'm starting to wonder if there's something wrong with her teeth. She act's hungry and goes for the food, bites it then spits it back out. She's been doing lots of yawning in the last week that I've noticed. I don't feed her krill and never did. I thought it caused lock jaw, but then I thought it was only lock jaw for porcupine puffers. Anyway, I plan on using the finquel tomorrow, I have the day off so that I can keep an eye on her. I'll put her under trim her teeth (don't look like it needs it but will do it anyway) check her mouth really good to see if there's a problem in there and tube feed her. Hopefully I can get all this done without hurting her.

You know, she's probably just not feeling great. I know there's lots of times when I'm sick and I go to take a spoonful of soup and just spit it back out.. I thought I wanted it but once it was in my mouth.. uh uh.

I sometimes think puffers are just flakey too.. Paris will throw a fit begging and begging for food, only to freak out and panic when I offer her some. Then it takes her a few hours to settle down enough to try to eat again.

Other than the day I actually got her to swallow a little food, it's going on 3 weeks since she has eaten on her own. I only managed to get her to eat one day about 3ml , and another day about 1ml during this time. She got wise quick and started spitting everything out. After reading articles/post from pufferqueen, I don't want to wait too long before getting her back on track.

Not so good update. Annabelle is in the same place she was when I left for work this morning. She's not swimming around, just laying on the substrate. I checked her water this morning. Amm.0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0, ph 7.2. No change there. She's making me worry again. I'm thinking about tube feeding her tonight instead of tomorrow.

eat annabelle....pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeee.....
i hope that all is okay with her.....keep us updated on the progress...

Well I did it! Scared to death but I did it! I put her under, it didn't take long. I check in her mouth, everything looked ok. Her bottom teeth were a little pointed so I trimed them straight across, no more point. Her teeth were harder than I expected them to be. After trimming her teeth I got the syringe and slowly inserted it just past her gills and pushed the food in, about 3ml. I didn't want to over do it. I soaked the food in beta glucan, extreme garlic and pureed it. I checked her belly, slightly rounded not bulging so I stopped. She woke up pretty quick in the freshwater bowl. I went ahead and moved her back into her tank. She's now resting on the bottom under a log.

well at least you finally got some food in her...

I see a belly bulge!

Now hopefully it comes out the other end properly and she realizes it is okay to eat now... Hmm, so thinking about this.. the last time she ate willingly it was probably medicated food, right? And that started the whole ordeal of the tapeworm? Or did that just sort of come out on its own? I'm sorry, I haven't followed this from the beginning..

Come on Annabelle! You can do it!!!

Great job! Lets hope you don't have to force-feed her for long. Good thing about Finquel is you can use it safely, over & over. Also, there's enough in that bottle to last a lifetime!

Myaj wrote:I see a belly bulge!

Now hopefully it comes out the other end properly and she realizes it is okay to eat now... Hmm, so thinking about this.. the last time she ate willingly it was probably medicated food, right? And that started the whole ordeal of the tapeworm? Or did that just sort of come out on its own? I'm sorry, I haven't followed this from the beginning..

Myaj,
Here's a brief update for you.
She had a cloudy eye, she was eating well, treated tank with melafix & pimafix. During that time she quit eating. A few days later I thought she was constipated so I treated her tank with epsom salt. The next morning the tapeworm was showing and It looked like she also had Ich. Found out a day or two later it was not Ich. Approx 24" of tapeworm passed, I force fed her twice and last night tube fed her. You are no up-to-date.

She is out and about swimming this morning. And she still has a tummy bulge.

She's been going around opening and closing her mouth. She was doing this before last night. I trimmed her bottom teeth and I didn't see anything in her mouth that would be bothering her.





How you like that tummy? Nice, smooth, round, no lumps! It's the most beatuiful tummy I ever
saw!