The Puffer Forum

Yesterday I posted under the general discussion section about my new DPs eating. I noticed then that one of them swam around with the worm halfway out of it's mouth for a long time, and it made me a little worried. Today it was the same, and I got nervous it could be stuck and that it might suffocate him! It was like he couldn't manage to break the casing of the worm, but he could not manage to suck in the whole stuff either. He had it for probably an hour or more. He seemed really uncomfortable, floating passively around, occasionally "fighting" the worm, with no luck, and breathing a little heavily. After a while he lay down on a plant, the worm still in his mouth, he looked exhausted!

Well, I could not watch him suffer (to me it looked like he suffered...). So, I took the big tweezers and carefully managed to grab the worm with it. I pulled, and he wriggled. After I rid him of it, it seemed he went into shock - paralyzed, immobile in the middle of the water! His colours got really bright, too. My god, quite a frightening experience, actually. Fortunately he seems to have recovered now.

My question is: Was it wrong to pull the worm out of him?? Must have been awfully stressful for him, I know, but he really seemed to have big problems. No way he will get whole bloodworms next time...!

Can you get blackworms from your LFS?

I will check it out, but I think not. Are they easier to eat?

Since my other DPs, even the smallest one, have no problems with the bloodworms (they slurp them up), do you think this particular puffy may suffer from some condition that makes eating difficult for him?

Hello again! Unfortunately, I have to bring up this topic again.

I have two picky puffs. One of them still doesn't want to eat anything but snails, and I'm having so much problems with the snail breeding that I can't offer him enough to eat. And it is impossible to get any other live food around here. I give them live brine shrimp occasionally, he likes it, but it's just not sufficient. He is so very, very skinny now!!

Then it is the second puffer, with the worm-stuck-in-the-mouth problem as described above. For a long time she was fine, getting a nice and round shape and growing well. Then one day a worm got stuck again, and she got really stressed. After the worm was gone, she would not touch bloodworms for many days. This is now happening again and again. I don't manage to help her, and the worm can be stuck for a day or two before it disappears! She is getting really skinny too, because she can't eat when she already has a worm skin in her mouth. And she is quite hesitant at feeding.

I don't know what to do, or what the reason is. I hate seeing them wasting away Despite their appearance they are active, swimming around and exploring. I will try to deworm and see if that helps. Water parameters have been good all the time, and I have four other DPs and four amanos that are all doing very well in this same tank.

Any other good advice?

Just speaking from limited experience here...

The first brand (can't remember) of bloodworms I bought (from a chain store) was awful - huge, inconsistent in size & colour (red, brown, clear). After a couple of days, my DPs (who ate frozen bloodworms at the LFS) were completely disinterested. I bought Hikari Bio-Pure frozen bloodworms and it was a huge improvement. The size was much more manageable, and they looked fresh when thawed.

Perhaps you cld snip the bloodworms into smaller portions for your DPs. If the DP is refusing other foods and you don't have a sustainable snail supply, just keep feeding it live brine shrimp for now till you can find a successful, better alternative. It is better than starving

Also, if you haven't already, I would do a preventative treatment of IPs for your DPs. If you have done it, let us know how your DPs are doing. I hope they are all doing well.

Good luck

Thanks for the advice! Some days ago I did just what you siuggested, I started cutting the bloodworms into small pieces, and it really helped for the one with the problem of worms getting stuck. Now she is much more excited when I come with food, and she eats some, but not much. And the starving one actually took one bite, after having eaten brine shrimp several times that specific day. But then he lost interest again. So - small pieces, and brine shrimp to increase appetite and trigger the hunting instinct, maybe it will work out. But naturally, it is also a bit of a problem that the other four piggies, and even the amano shrimps, all go nuts for bloodworms, and the two fuzzy ones keep in the background and give up their share when the others approach :-/

I treated these puffers when I first got them (in February this year), with Kusuri wormer. I have only added amano shrimp and pest snails after that. Would it be necessary to treat again?

Hi Minipuff,

Glad to hear the 2 DPs are starting to eat.

How big is your tank? I am still very new to fishkeeping, let alone puffer fish, so I am not sure how to deal with food competition amongst them. If possible, you could separate the two weaker ones into their own tank, so they can feed in relative peace.

Others will have greater knowledge in treating IPs, but I will share my experience & what I have learned.

I use Prazipro, and did my first treatment following label instructions, which was dosing the tank accordingly. Also, I made sure to remove the activated carbon, which I don't use anymore. I was either too late or treatment was unsuccessful, because 1 of my DPs didn't make it. He showed classic signs of IP. When I picked up another DP a few days later, I selected a happy fat one. A day later, I noticed clear poop from the other original DP so I decided to treat both just in case. This time, I followed TPF instructions (library/hospital/internal-parasites-pre ... treatment/) by dosing the bloodworms directly with Prazipro in a little water & soaking it before feeding.

They are currently thriving.

I am unfamiliar with Kusuri wormer, and did a quick google on it. Double-check with an experienced Puffer keeper, but I think you could treat the worms directly with Kusuri and feed them to your DPs. Just ask others re: dosage.

I am not a big fan of unnecessary medicating, so if your DPs are healthy and not showing signs of IPs, I would hold off and just work on putting weight on the other 2 DPs.

Someone else may have better advice than me. Keep us updated.

Kusuri is fine.

another update: I did not treat them yet, as I doubt that IPs is the problem. But the happy news is that they are both eating now! I'm almost shocked by the skinniest one, how he has started behaving more like the others - he is not hiding like he did before, he comes to greet me, and he eats and gets a big bump on his belly. I'm almost touched to see this, I hope it will stay this way now. I'm not quite sure what triggered it, if it was the heavy feeding with brine shrimp, smaller pieces of bloodworm, and maybe even that I messed a little with the planting in the tank?? I removed one big plant and added another in a different place. This creAted more open space in the middle, and for some reason the most aggressive individual seems to have calmed down! The days before this happened, it had been quite some aggression among the four strongest, they were fighting and showing their keels a lot. Now it is more harmonius. Like a small change in the tank led them to think of something else, or maybe influenced the balance of power/territories or something. At the exact same time, little skinny started eating and behaving differently. Can be a coincidence, But who knows. It will be interesting to see how this evolves!