The Puffer Forum

Ok, my first fish, figure 8 puffer like the title got stuck behind the heater this morning and scalded. His side is sunk in and he's burnt pretty bad. Can someone please help me with what to do or diagnose him. I have been through two catastrophes with him before and I am very attached to him, and I don't wanna lose him. Any insight as quick as possible would be great.

Thanks, Nic-

Treat him with Melafix. Be sure his water is pristine, to prevent infection. Is he in BW? Looks like you're gonna need a heater cover. Are there other fish in there that he might be afraid of?

FIrst off, I moved him into a hospital tank and treated him with stresszyme, pimafix, and polygaurd by seachem. I am also feeding him Daphnia and I upped the salt in his hospital tank as well as the temp and gave him places to hide. What bothers me is now on top of the very bad burn his body is contorted in the shape he was stuck very bad and his left side is sunk in. Could he be partially blown up?

Blown up? I've seen puffers heal from some really severe burns. If the hosp tank isn't cycled, I'd keep him in his main tank & treat with Melafix. Pimafix is for fungal infections. Be sure he's in BW, using marine salt & measureing with a hydrometer.

Daphnia is too small for him, go with a larger crustaceon. See the feeding article in our Library. F8 article in there too.

i moved water over from the main tank and did a partial change on it. he's not been eating snails lately but has been doing well otherwise. will the polyguard by seachem do just as well? i was told by my LFS to do the daphnia with some garlic dosing but I have yet to find the garlic locally to increase his appetite. Its not been 12 hours yet should I just wait a little longer and keep checking? I don't keep him brackish now. What about the contortion of his body anyone ever seen this? Could he have broken rips trying to free himself? I had to free him.

as far as broken ribs go, don't puffer not have ribs? i thought i read that somewhere so that can't be it as far as i know.

No ribs to speak of. Probably torn, burnt skin from tearing itself away from the heater. His shape will come back eventually. Adding water from an established tank to a QT, does not cycle the QT, only adds water. The bacteria that keeps a tank cycled is on surfaces like substrate, decor, glass & filtration material. He's be better off in his own tank in BW. Start mixing salt so his water is at a SG of 1.002. Dissolve it 1st though.

Well he is hanging on barely, he pooped but I have yet to see him eat. He is still deformed and favoring the fin and gills and side he was burned on. He color still looks great, he hasn't really swam much. Any more help?

Is he back in the main tank? Seriously, that's the best place for him to be right now. Melafix and Pimafix won't harm other fish if there are others in the main tank, so you can dose him with that in the tank.

i heard pimafix has horrible results on some kinda of fish though. particularly scaleless fish like loaches and plecos. anybody here able to confirm or deny that? melafix is working fine with my loachs but i haven't tried pimafix

I really don't use either, so I can't really say. I've just seen a lot of more experienced keepers suggest it. *shrug*

Personally, unless I see fungus on them, I don't bother using Pimafix.

Yes he is back in the main tank. He just sits and floats unless I coax him in which he will flutter around the tank again until I engage him again. Any ideas?

He's trying to recouperate. Are you getting him in BW?

What do you mean by brackish? I have always kept him in freshwater, but I do use aquarium salt, although I don't think that is what you mean?

Figure 8s are low end brackish. The SG for them runs anywhere from 1.005-1.008. You will need to use MARINE salt for the water, and not aquarium salt.