The Puffer Forum

One of my SAPs has had a type of lump under its troat for some time but when I got home today it was bigger than I have ever seen it before. It is eating fine but it looks like there is maybe something stuck in it's throat! PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

do you have a picture?

Could be goiter, norther puffers use much more iodine than most others, and get goiter and die very easily. I'm not sure how difficult it is for SAP to get goiter, tho.

I have never heard of that, do you have any more info Nick?

and some more

Looks like a goiter. If thats what it is, potassium iodide will prevent further growth and eventual starvation, and over many months I believe the size will go down.

This is the complete blurb I read on northern puffers and goiter:
"For years I would catch these fish as young inch-long specimens. But after a few years every one would develop a bulge under its jaw, stop eating and die. Everyone I spoke to who tried to keep these fish in captivity seemed to have the same story. I finally relented and decided to simply keep them for only a year or two and then release them. Turns out Northern Puffers use up iodine faster than most types of fish and develop goiters which eventually grow to the point that the animal can no longer swallow food. Simply adding tiny bits of liquid potassium-iodide solution to the aquarium each week solves this problem."
It's much more common in sharks and rays.

Do you know how muck I am supposed to add each week?

that is very interesting Nick, thanks.

I"d bet you could find a safe dose by looking at how much people dose for their shrimp in their FW fish tanks...

Do you have any idea of where I am suposed to find the medicine for my puffers? Could I maybe find it at a pharmacy or maybe convenience store? Last question, are there any other names that maybe are more commenly used that I might know about? Sorry about my bad spelling

Potassium iodide Is EVERYWHERE now, luckily - it helps prevent uptake of deadly iodine isotopes from radioactive contamination(like from a dirty bomb) by flooding your thyroid with healthy iodides. Until you can get some, add one tablespoon per gallon of iodized table salt to your tank, this is unlikely to be as effective as food dosed potassium iodide, but isn't useless. I am normally not a salt in FW person at all, but in this case I believe the sodium iodide might help to some extent.

Nick,
What source/person/book did you quote?
Thanks.

Quoted from here:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/13/204219/60
I found it some good time ago when researching my local pufferfish, I'm also a long islander.

The lump has gotten much smaller than before and I haven't done anything, but I will still go find that medicine for my puffer.