Re: Porcupine not in good shape with ich
Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2008 11:37 pm
Well, unfortunately bad news is to be told.
Friday night I came home from work and the store, had a nice little shrimp tail for him, bought a nice fresh one, not frozen, I have a pretty nice meat/fish market in my grocery store. I tried wiggling it in front of his face by hand, that didn't work, I think he was more intimidated by my hand than he was enticed by the shrimp.
So I went out to my garage, grabbed some of my fishing line, went back to the kitchen, punched a hole through the end of the tail and went "puffer fishin". Did some sweet jiggin' and trollin' and strait up hittin him in the face with it. Finally he took a little nip and it was on, he went after the shrimp like crazy, considering his size this didnt take long, he ate the whole thing aside from the small bit of the tail that had the string, didn't want him to eat that.
So I went to bed happy. I woke up saturday morning and went down to check out the tank, absolutely no good going on there. water was crystal clear, I did tests (trites, trates, amonia, etc) everything was normal, the puffer very much was not. I have found nothing to fit what happened to this guy, so give me a hand if you can. Here is the explanation of his state.
His eyes had gone completely cloudy (they looked gray, not just cloudy) they had also sunken into his head, his eyes used to be huge puppy eyes, they were now small little gray circles of unhappy. He was also completely coated in a thick film of goo, thats the only thing that I can call it, there was no other explanation. As well as this thick coat, he also had.... tentacles? they were small, thin, moving things... there was approximately 10 or 12 of these things, they were approximately 1/4" to 1-1/2" long, and thread thin. I figured that maybe they were just part of the goo and just waving in the current, so I shut off the filter and airstone for a short time to see if they still moved, and though the puffer was not moving, they were most definitely moving, randomly, independent of eachother. I have looked up anchor worm, and it does not look like this, I of course could not find my freaking camera. He was also breathing very, very heavy.
When I turned on the light, apparently he was able to see that, but nothing else, because he started swimming around the tank slamming into everything, I figure he was blind. I turned the light back off and tried to do some research to figure out what to do next.
Within the next few hours I witnessed him puff to full size twice, then he puffed one final time, mostly deflated, and then laid down and stopped breathing. It was over, I was sad.
The only thing that I can say is, I tried. I got him in horrible shape, thought I had him better, and then something ungodly and nothing I can figure out happened to him. If you can shed some light on this, please do, if you have questions, I can try to answer them, but I only know so much of what happened.
On the bright side, I have fallen for the little guys, and will be finishing the tank that I was building for the puffer, and I will find a living memorial of the little guy in a new porcupine puffer once everything is set up and totally ready. I will start a new thread with questions later. For now, thank you all for the support and help, and good luck with all your puffers!
Friday night I came home from work and the store, had a nice little shrimp tail for him, bought a nice fresh one, not frozen, I have a pretty nice meat/fish market in my grocery store. I tried wiggling it in front of his face by hand, that didn't work, I think he was more intimidated by my hand than he was enticed by the shrimp.
So I went out to my garage, grabbed some of my fishing line, went back to the kitchen, punched a hole through the end of the tail and went "puffer fishin". Did some sweet jiggin' and trollin' and strait up hittin him in the face with it. Finally he took a little nip and it was on, he went after the shrimp like crazy, considering his size this didnt take long, he ate the whole thing aside from the small bit of the tail that had the string, didn't want him to eat that.
So I went to bed happy. I woke up saturday morning and went down to check out the tank, absolutely no good going on there. water was crystal clear, I did tests (trites, trates, amonia, etc) everything was normal, the puffer very much was not. I have found nothing to fit what happened to this guy, so give me a hand if you can. Here is the explanation of his state.
His eyes had gone completely cloudy (they looked gray, not just cloudy) they had also sunken into his head, his eyes used to be huge puppy eyes, they were now small little gray circles of unhappy. He was also completely coated in a thick film of goo, thats the only thing that I can call it, there was no other explanation. As well as this thick coat, he also had.... tentacles? they were small, thin, moving things... there was approximately 10 or 12 of these things, they were approximately 1/4" to 1-1/2" long, and thread thin. I figured that maybe they were just part of the goo and just waving in the current, so I shut off the filter and airstone for a short time to see if they still moved, and though the puffer was not moving, they were most definitely moving, randomly, independent of eachother. I have looked up anchor worm, and it does not look like this, I of course could not find my freaking camera. He was also breathing very, very heavy.
When I turned on the light, apparently he was able to see that, but nothing else, because he started swimming around the tank slamming into everything, I figure he was blind. I turned the light back off and tried to do some research to figure out what to do next.
Within the next few hours I witnessed him puff to full size twice, then he puffed one final time, mostly deflated, and then laid down and stopped breathing. It was over, I was sad.
The only thing that I can say is, I tried. I got him in horrible shape, thought I had him better, and then something ungodly and nothing I can figure out happened to him. If you can shed some light on this, please do, if you have questions, I can try to answer them, but I only know so much of what happened.
On the bright side, I have fallen for the little guys, and will be finishing the tank that I was building for the puffer, and I will find a living memorial of the little guy in a new porcupine puffer once everything is set up and totally ready. I will start a new thread with questions later. For now, thank you all for the support and help, and good luck with all your puffers!
I'm so sorry, I was really hoping he was gonna get better. 
