The Puffer Forum

awww, Im sorry to hear you have to put him down.

It might be really hard to do, but after he is gone, you should dissect that spot to see if you can tell what it is. For others later

In the process of euthanizing him.. I planned on taking my sharpest knife to it and take a snapshot of what was trying to push out there. I will be sure to label the picture properly. I troubleshoot computers for a living, so I am always on the search in life for root cause

Indeed, it may save another puffer.

So sorry to hear about him. That's a very tough decision to make. Good luck!

I'm sorry to hear that it's come down to this, your Fahaka is a beautiful animal. I've used clove oil before on terminally ill fish, it's very painless, very easy for the fish. That spot on his belly is strange... I've never seen anything like it. I'm curious, too, as to what it is and what caused it.

You have done well to nurse your puffer to this point and I think its reached the point of no return. Well done for coming this far and sticking with it, I too am very intrigued to see what comes out of that cyst. My money is on some kinda worms :X?

Puffer skin is way, way tougher than I ever imagined. No wonder they survive attacks in the wild. I was able to get through some of it to get to the sore and lump. You would almost need to purchase a true scalpel if you were trying to get really precise.

The lump was definitely air. I did not go to any major anatomy classes in college, so I wasn't sure what I was looking at.. but. In the picture, you can see the puffed out sac that was air. Took a lot of force to puncture, but when I did.. Immediately deflated him. No major signs of any worms around the sore or any major discoloration in the tissue underneath the sore. I tried so hard to push that air out prior to death, no luck though. I was just looking for a discolored mass of any sorts, couldn't find one. Got frustrated -- Put him in a ziplock bag with all the leftover clams and put in the trash.

RIP Puffy -- The most unoriginal name, but he was a good fish. Approx age 4 1/2 - 5 years old.

DO NOT CLICK ON THE PICTURE OF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH -- WARNING!

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/171/img0694bq.jpg/

So sorry you lost him May he rest in peace.

jnheinz wrote:Puffer skin is way, way tougher than I ever imagined. No wonder they survive attacks in the wild. I was able to get through some of it to get to the sore and lump. You would almost need to purchase a true scalpel if you were trying to get really precise.

The lump was definitely air. I did not go to any major anatomy classes in college, so I wasn't sure what I was looking at.. but. In the picture, you can see the puffed out sac that was air. Took a lot of force to puncture, but when I did.. Immediately deflated him. No major signs of any worms around the sore or any major discoloration in the tissue underneath the sore. I tried so hard to push that air out prior to death, no luck though. I was just looking for a discolored mass of any sorts, couldn't find one. Got frustrated -- Put him in a ziplock bag with all the leftover clams and put in the trash.

RIP Puffy -- The most unoriginal name, but he was a good fish. Approx age 4 1/2 - 5 years old.

DO NOT CLICK ON THE PICTURE OF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH -- WARNING!

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/171/img0694bq.jpg/

You did well mate, what you can see there is the stomach sac that fills with air when they inflate. I am Glad you wore gloves those puffer have very poisonous guts, my advice now would be to throw away all the equipment, knife and gloves used while cutting him open in case of the presence of Tetrodotoxin. and again Well done

odd that the lump didnt have anything in it, sad that you couldnt get the air out

I'm thinking that it may be related to thiaminase. Here is an excerpt from a thiaminase article:
"Symptoms of this syndrome are well known from several commercially important fish groups and can be confirmed using appropriate biochemical tests. Flatfish fed exclusively with thiaminase-rich clams suffer and die from paralysis and related physical shocks. Eels show a trunk-winding syndrome and hemorrhages along the base of the fins (similar symptoms have been reported from moray husbandry, too). Salmonids show nervous disorders, poor appetite, poor growth and jumpiness (again, similar things have observed among a variety of ornamental fish species). Skin congestion and haemorrhage have been reported from carp and other cyprinids. In general then, excessive amounts of thiaminase are connected with symptoms of sickness that include poor growth, loss of appetite, abdominal swelling and hemorrhage, loss of equilibrum, convulsions, muscle atrophy and a weak immune system."

That could have been a trigger but not the final cause of death.

Sorry for the loss. I know it is hard.

Although very sad, thank you for the dissection. Yes, puffer skin is very thick & hard to cut!

xrayjeeper83 wrote:odd that the lump didnt have anything in it, sad that you couldnt get the air out

I did get the air out. I poked it with a knife.

Everything got kind of gooey at that point, and I didn't study the anatomy of a puffer beforehand, so I kind of gave up when I couldn't find any masses or severe discoloration.

Walrus Head wrote:

jnheinz wrote:Puffer skin is way, way tougher than I ever imagined. No wonder they survive attacks in the wild. I was able to get through some of it to get to the sore and lump. You would almost need to purchase a true scalpel if you were trying to get really precise.

The lump was definitely air. I did not go to any major anatomy classes in college, so I wasn't sure what I was looking at.. but. In the picture, you can see the puffed out sac that was air. Took a lot of force to puncture, but when I did.. Immediately deflated him. No major signs of any worms around the sore or any major discoloration in the tissue underneath the sore. I tried so hard to push that air out prior to death, no luck though. I was just looking for a discolored mass of any sorts, couldn't find one. Got frustrated -- Put him in a ziplock bag with all the leftover clams and put in the trash.

RIP Puffy -- The most unoriginal name, but he was a good fish. Approx age 4 1/2 - 5 years old.

DO NOT CLICK ON THE PICTURE OF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH -- WARNING!

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/171/img0694bq.jpg/

You did well mate, what you can see there is the stomach sac that fills with air when they inflate. I am Glad you wore gloves those puffer have very poisonous guts, my advice now would be to throw away all the equipment, knife and gloves used while cutting him open in case of the presence of Tetrodotoxin. and again Well done

Wow, thanks for the warning. I used a sharp Gerber. Do you think I could sterilize it instead of throwing it away? Heat from blow torch, soak in sanitizer, time?

Nevermind, I think I may just toss all that stuff in the trash after reading about fugu, Japan, terrible deaths... I just had to know what was in that lump.

Scares me to think people are tossing their puffers in the toilets when they die with all that toxin in their body, with no known antidote.