The Puffer Forum

HELPPPPPPPP

Today I was giving food to the GSP and I guess the rest of the fish in the tank rushed to him and he got scared and started puffing up.... So now it's been 5 minutes and the belly is still big and it looks deformed!!! will it return to it's normal size ever again?

I took pictures by the way, Ill post them up when I have time

From what i have read, it is possible for water to get caught up inside his stomach (lining, gutts) ?? as he relaxes the water should work its way out, i am pretty sure he will return to normal size, may take a few hours/day?

Shame, must be a stressful experience for the poor puffer.....

If all the water dose not come out it might be possible to use the same method used for cutting teeth to put him into a dozy relaxed state then massage his tummy, i would first check this with one of the more knowledgeable persons but i don't see any reason why this would not help/work ?

Look forward to seeing the pic, i have never seen a GSP puffed up b4.

They can usually unpuff themselves fine although it can take awhile. If he's still puffed after an hour, you may need to "burp" him. There should be a sticky thread about that. Do not anesthetize him to do it.

I believe the burping thread is in the Hosp section of our Library.

How's he doing now, any change?

was also wondering if he has returned to normal size?

Boxermom, thanks for clearing the anesthetize thing, would hate to be the suggester of bad advice!

maybe you can give me/us some comment on these questions witch i though of after reading/posting to this topic - http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/vie ... f=5&t=9555

yes he did return to his normal size... for some reason he keeps doing it now when i give him food.... btw here's the video:

Are you sure you aren't over feeding him? When we feed a lot of food to our ceylons their bellies look like that too.

BTW, how big is your tank? I see that you have two GSP's in it. They need at least 30g each you know? Both of the puffers look like they have tattered tails, most likely from nipping.

He is def. not puffed up. Cut back on the food. That fish is just fat, to the point of not being healthy. If he puffed his whole underside would be like 4 times bigger to the point he's a nearly perfect sphere.

flamesofifreet, I deleted your double-post.

Yes, that puffer is badly overfed, especially if he's like that all of the time. His stomach should be slightly rounded after feeding, not bulging. Puffed GSPs look very different.

Boxermom wrote:flamesofifreet, I deleted your double-post.

Yes, that puffer is badly overfed, especially if he's like that all of the time. His stomach should be slightly rounded after feeding, not bulging. Puffed GSPs look very different.

I know for a fact that he's not overfed, he's actually puffed. That's before I fed him, I was holding the food with chopsticks and he came near it and started turning fat like that so I took the food back and got my camera real quick. He was actually bigger when he was first starting to puff

At first I thought it was a bit of food stuck at the front of the stomach, on a second watch it is perfectly round, if it was food you would expect it to be a mis-shapen lump. Interesting behaviour on this individual.

spoot wrote:Are you sure you aren't over feeding him? When we feed a lot of food to our ceylons their bellies look like that too.

BTW, how big is your tank? I see that you have two GSP's in it. They need at least 30g each you know? Both of the puffers look like they have tattered tails, most likely from nipping.

my tank is 40gals, one GSP is in another tank right now. About the tattered tails, I got them like that about a month ago. The LFS was keeping like 7-8 GSP on a 20gal tank that's why the tails are all tattered.

I've never seen a GSP puff like that. All of the ones I've seen puff get puffed from basically chin to tail, never just a little pouch like that. Are you sure its not constipated or overfed?

Anyone think it could be an airbubble?