The Puffer Forum

Yesterday morning I found my new baby puffer, Lord Puffington, (about 1 inch long) stuck to the intake on the Aquaclear in his tank (36g). Since he had never had a problem swimming near the intake before, I suspect he must have been fast asleep at the time, panicked and puffed, and a little bit of skin got stuck in between the cagey part at the bottom as he deflated. Anyway, I don't think he was stuck long because he wasn't exhausted when rescued, although he was obviously acting very scared and hiding after. I thought he was going to die soon because all his stomach looked so swollen. I covered the intake with pantyhose, put Melafix in the tank and hoped for the best when I went to work. Anyway, by this morning, he's looking much, much better with his swelling nearly all gone, and he is alert and active and has still has his appetite. Oddly, he is still able to swim right by the intake with absolutely no problems. His getting stuck really must have been a fluke.

However, he still has a tiny bit of his stomach that is swollen looking or sticking out. Is this a hernia or just swelling? Is there anything else I can do to speed up his healing? I fed him a tiny bit of shrimp this morning to keep his strength up. He gets fed every evening, except for yesterday when he was still somewhat swollen and seeming a little bit out of it. Should I be feeding him? I hope that didn't make it worse. Except for that hernia looking thing, he's pretty much back to normal.

Huh. That's odd. Can you post a picture?

I wouldn't stop feeding. I would say to feed as normal.

Epsom salt can help relieve swelling (1 tbsp/10g) & add Melafix for better healing.

Thank you, PP. I've been using Melafix but didn't think of the epsom salt. I'll add some tonight when I get home.

I've added the epsom salt and took a few pictures in case it's something more serious...
Sorry so fuzzy. The last two pictures are of him swimming down, so you can see the bump on the left side. It's hard to see in the picture of his left side because my camera is crud.

Ouch!

It was a hernia. We couldn't find him in the tank this morning (he's super tiny) so we went to work not knowing his status. We searched the tank when we got home and found his tiny body in a hole in a decoration. I hope these pictures can at least help someone diagnose their own puff... not that I would wish this on anyone's pet.

RIP Little Lord Puffington.

Oh, that's awful. I'm sorry.

My guess is he might have been ill before he got stuck. A healthy fish shouldn't get stuck to a properly screened intake tube.