The Puffer Forum

So my puffer died over a month ago RIP PUFFY from what appeared to be parasites.

I had put two snails in there for him to eat and he never ate them before he died.

I haven't been at home much (been at my boyfriends) and came home a few days ago.

The snails are still alive, but right next to the snails was this...probably inch or inch and a half long red worm!

I have no idea how it got in there?

I hate worms so I had my boyfriend throw a towel over the tank and I left.

Is this a snail out of it's shell? I'm really confused.

Help and thanks.

pics, did you ever feed blood worms

I've never seen a blood worm that long; nor would they live later. Did you feed live worms? (I hear red wigglers can survive a while underwater, but I don't think they'd survive THAT long underwater, though.) Do you have any pictures? I've never seen a snail out of it's shell, so I don't know about that either! Still seems creepy!

Throw a towel of the tank? Why not have him take a pic and then remove it? Probably a good idea no matter what it is....just to be safe.

I'm not at home anymore but I'm weirded out.

My grandma fed puffy a worm over a month ago....I don't think a worm would live that long under water? Also the blood worms were frozen....so I'm really confused.

I'm not going anywhere near the tank....

I think I might just get my grandma to empty the tank since there are just two tiny snails in it and that weird thing.

Like could it have been a parasite?

Super confused.

It definitely has me curious, can you get whoever deals with it to take a picture and then post it up for us? I don't know that it's likely to be identified otherwise.

Sorry if this sounds rude but if you cant deal with an issue like this, you shouldnt own pets.

Well, she probably shouldn't keep worms as pets! I don't like lots of types of creepy-crawlies, but I still have pets.

I can understand not wanting to deal with the tank, if her puffer is dead and there is something she doesnt like. If my puffer died and a spider moved in, I may just leave the tank lol

Regardless what pets you own there comes a time when creepy crawlies have to be dealt with. Be it a worm, tick, flea or any number of other parasites or pests. Its part of being a pet owner. What if this issue had arisen while there were still a puff or any other fish in the tank? Reality is that the worm was likely in there while the puff was. And if it had been noticed at that time, what then? Leave it for someone else to deal with cuz you're afraid of it? I'm not saying the op is a bad person. I'm saying if you're gonna own pets you need to suck it up and deal with these kind of problems. Its part of the husbandry expected if you love and properly care for your animals.

I agree a part of raising animals or keeping pets is the ability to provide for all of their needs, but who is to say it has to be you? Personally I feel as long as the animal can have all its needs met then what is the issue? The OP was trying to save her puffer to begin with and in an attempt to get it to eat had her grandmother try to feed it a worm. The desire, care, and willingness is there so in my opinion this constitutes all the requirements to provide for another living creature. It would have been far easier to say, "I hate worms I will not try and feed my suffering puffer a worm" but instead the OP found a way to try and give the fish the care it needed. Additionally, without seeing a photo of what is in the tank it is impossible to say exactly how long or what the worm is in the tank. I really don't like spiders, and when one crawls on me it sounds about one hundred times bigger, hairier, and meaner than it was when I tell my wife.

I think it is also unfair to claim a single phobia is grounds for no pets at all. That seems a bit extreme to me. Yes, other pets have creepy crawlies but many times with pets there is a vet you can take them to and have those dealt with. The means for caring for an animal do not have to solely fall upon the individual, as long as there is a means to provide the care and the ability I believe there are no issues.

Lol, you make it sound as though I want this person drawn and quartered. And I totally disagree. YOUR pet, YOUR responsibility. It shouldnt fall to someone else. Its one thing to ask someone to look out for a pet while you're on vacation or just away a couple days but its a whole different story to ask someone to deal with YOUR pets issues because you feel you cant deal with it.

JoseDepacos wrote:YOUR pet, YOUR responsibility.

I didn't realize you were the OPs mother, welcome to the forums!

I could see this kind of thinking if you were the parent, or even the boyfriend, but I don't think you're either of those. Given that the puffer is dead [rip], hopefully not in the tank still , I hardly see what the concern is.

It's not like the op's asking you to remove it. Maybe the boyfriend doesn't mind doing this sort of thing? I certainly wouldn't mind doing that type of thing for my partner, maybe that's just me.

Some people don't like bugs, ok?

derek

You all obviously miss the point and some of you sound as though you could use some parenting. What are you people like ten? Twelve?

Enough.