The Puffer Forum

Ok, so I bought a caribbean sharp nose puffer about 2 weeks ago. He's been in quarantine all by himself and I was getting ready to put him in the big tank today when I noticed what looks like a worm under his skin. It is one long very squiggly looking something or rather that, for the most part, is on the fishes right side but does wrap around up near its mouth and over to the left side as well. Is it some type of worm?

Can you upload a pic?

Yup--nematode worm. Not good. Either you need to do surgery to remove it or leave it in there.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8298&st=0&sk=t&sd=a ... de+surgery

Do a search for further threads on this: *nematode surgery*.

Is it possible for the Nematode to spread to other fish if I place him in the larger tank? Do you know if any surgeries have been successful and if so how was it done?

Thanks in advance.

Ive never delt with nematodes before, but i was wondering if he leaves it in the fish, will it eventually kill him? Is the surgery something that must be done to save him? This is awful

Yes, yes & yes. Sorry it's late... 2am here.

Pufferpunk wrote:Yes, yes & yes. Sorry it's late... 2am here.

So, is that a "Yes, the nematode can spread to other fish, ..."yes", Successful nematode removal surgeries have been performed, and "yes", it will kill him?

Yes, it will eventually kill the puffer but they have been known to survive quite some time with the worms inside them. Certainly not as long as without one. How do you feel about surgery? Did you read the threads on this? I'm not quite sure how it transfers to other fish. You coudl do a web search on nematodes.
I found this:
http://nematode.unl.edu/

I'm not sure surgery is much of an option. At this point, the worm is fairly large. It covers much of the right side of the fish and wraps around and partially covers the left side. I can't seem to find anything on a successful surgery. I would like to have some frame of reference before jumping into it. Would I be able to slowly pull the worm out lengthwise through a tiny incision or would it come out in bits and pieces?

I found a fairly informative read on the subject.


http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/FA091