The Puffer Forum

Hi
this is my first post, I figured it would be a hello one not a help one.
But last night Sid a medium sized stars and strips puffer.and an issue with a small red clawed crab, He went after it head on and ended up with both claws attached to either side of his face. Trying to dislodge it he smashed it into the side of the tank killing it and knocking it off, but leaving both claws still attached to his face. Using the net we "pinned" him against the side of the tank to try and remove it. As he spun around in the net he dislodged one but the other we had to actually grab ahold of and gently (as possible) with a puffer trying to bite it off, bite the hand helping it and get away from the net at the same time. The second one left a small puncture site on the side of his face where his cheek area is. He was livid he puffed half way up and deflated several times. we offered him a crab afterwards and he was really scared of it. It was horrible he took one look and swam and hid in under the rocks as far away as he could get. Did however end up eating a piece of shrimp later.
This morning it looks like a small chunck is missing from the cheek area and he is under the rocks hiding still, not normal behavior. Is there anything we should do for him?

Thanks in advance

Sorry for laughing but I'm picturing your puffer hiding from the crab. I've had this happen to my larger faghaka puffer several times. Their skin is very tough--like leather with spikes all over it. I'm afraid you may have torn his skin by trying to grab the claw off of him. It would have let go eventually. You should keep the water very clean & add SW Melafix to help the healing.

Happened to my F8 with a crayfish too,....now I euthanize them b4 feeding to the puffs.

+1 for the clean water and a little Melafix....should heal fine.

....and eventually he may stop being scared of crabs...

Heh, I had a crab grab on to my Turgidus' face and ride him like a bull. Had a few marks after he ejected the crab and ate him. Healed nicely with some melafix. Make sure if you add it to a marine tank that you turn off your skimmer or it will foam up.

Poor Sid is very disgruntaled still. He is in a corner and is bullying anything coming near him.
He did eat a crayfish this evening, after watching it very carefully and suspiciously for several minutes, he slowly inched closer and closer. After his meal he went back to his corner to pout. The wound site is a small indentation on one side and a smaller one on the other. Looks fine so far, will treat with melafix as soon as we can dig out after mother nature finishes dumping 20 inches or more of snow due between now and Thursday am, to add to the 6-8 inches we got today.
Is there a difference between freshwater and saltwater melafix?

Thanks to all who answered

jtbadco wrote:....and eventually he may stop being scared of crabs...

i can just see it now, he's gonna to suffer post tramatic crab attack syndrom, and swim away and hide from any little crab he sees. lol

I don't believe the SW version of Melafix foams like the FW does.

Pufferpunk wrote:I don't believe the SW version of Melafix foams like the FW does.

Thanks, I have melafix purchased for my freshwater aquarium, wanted to check before I used it for saltwater (sids tank)

It'll make bubbles galore & your skimmer go insane! Probably bubble over the rim of your tank too, if you have any powerheads in there.

Pufferpunk wrote:It'll make bubbles galore & your skimmer go insane! Probably bubble over the rim of your tank too, if you have any powerheads in there.

I think I'll skip the mess and wait for the roads to be plowed.

Thanks for the info

Yeah, it's not like it's life or death with him.

Thanks again everyone for your help and susgestions.