The Puffer Forum

I was draining Odie's 20g yesterday in order to move it to a different location. I was doing other things in the room, and I noticed that the sound changed, like it does when it gets blocked with plant matter. I checked, and Odie had become lodged in the spot where the wide tube meets the hose. . (He hates the python and usually stays FAR away from it!)

I immediately shut off the water to stop suction, and dismantled the python to create backflow to get him out. His body was badly contorted and I thought he was dead. But he was breathing, and within an hour or so, he was back to his regular shape, except that I think his spine is a bit crooked. He was swimming, but weak. Once the tank was filled back up, I turned on the HOB filter but when he got too close, he stuck to it. I put a large sponge over it and turned it back on, and shut off the lights so he would rest.

I half expected him to be dead when I woke up, but he wasn't. He's still VERY low key, not coming to the front of the tank or anything, but he's bouyant and swimming a little bit, not just sitting at the bottom, His color is good, except for a spot near his tail that looks scraped.

The water quality is excellent. He's just a little squirt and I do 50% weekly water changes, and the tank move yesterday involved a 75% WC. The salinity is quite low, about .002, which is short term as I'm acclimating some plants which have been in FW to brackish.

I checked and my Melafix is horribly outdated, so I'm going to get some today. Any other suggestions?

Puffers are very very curious fish and investigate anything which could be, or expose, food. DPs are perhaps the worse. Most larger puffs are not in danger past baby-hood.

But you can never take your eyes off a Python in se in a puffer tank.

I know...HUGE lapse in judgement
Trust me, I'm already beating myself up over this
I hope that, whatever the outcome, this will be a reminder to others...

RTR wrote:Puffers are very very curious fish and investigate anything which could be, or expose, food. DPs are perhaps the worse. Most larger puffs are not in danger past baby-hood.

But you can never take your eyes off a Python in se in a puffer tank.

I'm surprised you didn't find him puffed in there. I have done this too often to count... Now, I be sure to dig the Python tube deep into the substrate if I walk away, so no fish can swim in.

Quite the opposite, He's always been a skinny little squirt despite multiple dewormings, and his back end looks crazy-super-skinny now, almost like a tadpole .
Yet his colors are vibrant. He doesn't look good but I can't help but think he'd be pale if he was badly injured?

Pufferpunk wrote:I'm surprised you didn't find him puffed in there. I have done this too often to count... Now, I be sure to dig the Python tube deep into the substrate if I walk away, so no fish can swim in.

Maybe you need to use a different de-worming med?

What would you suggest besides Jungle Fizz Tabs?

Pufferpunk wrote:Maybe you need to use a different de-worming med?

Just re-read the article, I believe metronidazole is the only one I can get here (Canada). Anyone know if that can be put in the water rather than food?

It's irrelevant now. I just went to check on him and he's dead I feel like sh**

Yeah that would feel walrus, but at least you're coming out of it with some knowledge so you don't do this again.
Also its not like you meant to do it so don't beat yourself up, everyone makes mistakes.

Poor fella. Never seemed right in the 1st place, might have had more wrong than just IPs. Clean out the tank with Oxyclean & start over with a fat healthy puffer.

I'm not going to get another F-8. I realized within months of getting Odie that brackish isn't something I enjoy. I almost rehomed him a few months ago but realized that, although I didn't like brackish, I adored him and couldn't part with him, so I had to do right by him. I re-did his tank, moving more towards a natural, alive environment, rather than silk plants and polyresin ornaments. Hence that plants being acclimated... He was really enjoying it. We got into a routine and things were going well...

The reason I was moving his tank is because I recently scored a 24x24x24 cube. I was going to upgrade my 15g SW tank, and maybe get a Valentini or other dwarf puffer. I think I'll just concentrate on that and my other tanks for now.

I think I'm going to sell the 20. It was the tank my fugu, Douggie, came to me in, and then was Odie's, It just makes me sad, I don't want to look at it

CarmenH wrote:It's irrelevant now. I just went to check on him and he's dead I feel like sh**

awww poor little guy. My heart felt sympathies. I know you put a lot of time and effort into him.

Fish can have somatic parasites that infest their bodies but do not live in the gut - hence are not IPs. Those can be difficult to treat without killing the fish.

I confess that I have used PP's technique myself, but i usually am too chicken even for that. My BW tanks tend not to have live plants, and to have RFUG, so shallow substrates don't provide enough depth to bury safely.