The Puffer Forum

I know that snails are what the Dwarf Puffer eats in the wild and are a good food source for them, but snails also often carry parasites. How do I treat internal parasites?

Actually, my DPs are mostly eating live blackworms. This species doesn't have the overgrown incisor problems others do.
library/hospital/internal-parasites-pre ... treatment/
library/puffers-in-focus/sexing-carinot ... rf-puffer/

Actually, if you culture your own snail population and let it grow 3 weeks before feeding, there are very few parasites that can infect both invertebrates(the snails) and vertebrates(your puffer). All live food are capable of spreading infectious organisms unfortunately, the best we can do is minimize this chance and treat the fish for such exposure. HTH.

Home culturing snails in dedicated tanks (free of fish and of other inverts) is your best defense against chance/accidental transfer of fish parasites along with food items or transported water.

There are only a few internal parasites with very complex life cycles (certain flukes and nematodes) with complex life cycles) which can occur in hobby fish and which are highly unlikely to complete their life cycles in home tanks.

Home culture of snails is your safety net. Live California Blackworms are also safe for tank fish.