The Puffer Forum

I just bought a new GSP from a local fish store. He was in bad shape, sunken black belly, in freshwater probably full of parasites, but I couldn't resist him jumping at the glass despite all his problems. As soon as I got him home I put him some swine parasite medicine and a day later this huge worm was sticking out of him of him Can anyone ID this thing, I've never seen anything like it. I tried to dislodge it but was afraid I would rip out his intestines, so I let it hang the rest of the night. I fully expected the puffer to be dead in the morning, but he was chomping at the bit for some meal worms the next morning and the worm had disappeared, couldn't find it in the tank, maybe he ate it or it went back in, I have no idea. I also have it on video if anyone would like to see. The pic is pretty blurry because of night time and deworming medicine in hospital tank.[img][/img]

My goodness, poor little puffer!! If I were you, I'd make sure to clean the substrate really good, as you don't want that worm, dead or alive, hanging in the tank. I use an air-powered vacuum to clean up any leftover food or fish waste in my tanks and it's really good at doing the job. Keeps my tanks clean between water changes too.

I'm just curious about something, you said you used "swine parasite medicine". Is that a brand name, "Swine"? Or do you mean that the medication is used for swine (pigs) ?

I really don't think mealworms are all that good for puffers, so why don't you try feeding him some pieces of shrimp (I use jumbo shrimp cut in small pieces and my puffers love them), or mussels, and most puffers love frozen bloodworm (best if soaked in liquid vitamins meant for fish). He's probably not been fed very well and could use some good food, but I would not make a diet out of the mealworms. PufferPunk says they have a hard outer skin that makes it tough for puffers to digest. So be careful with them.

I do hope your little guy recovers and starts to look better. Keep us posted.
Good luck!

Could you describe the worm in a little more detail? Color, shape, etc. Gives a little more to work with in trying to ident it. Was this hanging from his anus? Either way PPG is correct, you need to start gravel vacuuming very throughly if you can't find that section of the parasite. From first blurry glance I thought tapeworm of some sort so please wash your hands carefully immediately after working in the tank as some species of tapeworm are transmittable to humans. Keep the worming treatment on course for now though.

I did a 50% water change the night after the worm disappeared, it's a hospital tank so there's very little substrate, I didn't see anything resembling the worm when I vacuumed. I didn't think about the worms being husky but I noticed he has some trouble getting them down. The worm wasn't flat like a tapeworm, it was rounded and sort of corkscrewed coming out of it's anus. I'll post the video when I get the chance. I think the dewormer is levimisole, I bought it a couple of years ago from a seller on ebay, I seem to remember him posting on the puffer forum some years ago.

That would be the proper med & obviously, it's working! Keep re-dosing the tank after the water changes.