Sad sad day for me + possible warning for puffer keepers...

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Fat Homer

Fat Homer

Mmmmm... Doughnuts
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Mar 16, 2009
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Today i lost my 14" Fahaka puffer due to what i am guessing is a blockage causing her to be unable to poop and later doing internal damage...

She was basically fed 11 small clams 48 hours before this happened, and normally she starts pooping out stuff within 12 hours or so, and by 24hrs has crapped out most of the shells, but this time, after 48hrs she hadn't been able to poop it seems...

After struggling during this time to poop, i came home to witness her trying to squeeze through rather tight spaces of driftwood in what i can only guess is her last ditch effort to maybe help move the blockage out...

This kept going on for about 30min or so, till i saw her make a charge towards a small gap before she literally stopped and didn't move... at this point i quickly lifted the hood to check on her and noticed her breathing almost stop completely, then after pulling her out, her breathing stopped completely...

So my take on all this is that whatever was causing the block (most likely clam shells) must have been irritating her enough to try and find ways to dislodge it, and in the process, maybe the shell pieces cut her internally when trying to charge through the small gaps...

I mean i have heard of similar things happening before to large puffers, but thought they were freak accidents, now it seems the stories hit a little too close to home...

All thats left to say is this day really really sucks!!!!!!!!!! Less than a month away from her 6th Birthday too...
 
Fat Homer said:
Today i lost my 14" Fahaka puffer due to what i am guessing is a blockage causing her to be unable to poop and later doing internal damage...

She was basically fed 11 small clams 48 hours before this happened, and normally she starts pooping out stuff within 12 hours or so, and by 24hrs has crapped out most of the shells, but this time, after 48hrs she hadn't been able to poop it seems...

After struggling during this time to poop, i came home to witness her trying to squeeze through rather tight spaces of driftwood in what i can only guess is her last ditch effort to maybe help move the blockage out...

This kept going on for about 30min or so, till i saw her make a charge towards a small gap before she literally stopped and didn't move... at this point i quickly lifted the hood to check on her and noticed her breathing almost stop completely, then after pulling her out, her breathing stopped completely...

So my take on all this is that whatever was causing the block (most likely clam shells) must have been irritating her enough to try and find ways to dislodge it, and in the process, maybe the shell pieces cut her internally when trying to charge through the small gaps...

I mean i have heard of similar things happening before to large puffers, but thought they were freak accidents, now it seems the stories hit a little too close to home...

All thats left to say is this day really really sucks!!!!!!!!!! Less than a month away from her 6th Birthday too...
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that, are you going to replace her?
 
sorry for your loss, its always tough losing a fish, especially a wet pet you've had for a while.
 
Thx, it just really sucked because she was so socialble and always greeted me when i came home... Now rhe tanks gonna feel mighty empty without her presense in there...

convict360 convict360 : most probably not, was discussing it with the girlfriend, and we agreed it would be hard to replace her personality, and growing so attached to her over the years, dont think ill be getting another one any time soon...
 
sorry to read this bro
such a shame that an old pet was lost.
 
This is a risk I think for all fish with all shelled foods, even the fish designed to eat them. you'll bounce back into it with another wet pet, might be a minute but you'll want another
 
That sucks! I am sorry to hear that. Puffers are amazing little critters as well. If you want to go detective about the incident, I would recommend asking the Puffer Forum, as they are usually quite knowledgeable. Either way, it is always unfortunate to hear about this and take solace in knowing that you had done more with that puffer and given it a better life than most others would have ever provided. <3
 
^ thanks for all the reply guys, really apprecite it... The girlfriend and i are devastated about the loss of her and can barely look at her tank...

I have to agree sadly that having any fish that requires a hard shelled diet is going to run this risk, just sucks there isnt anything we could do about it... No vets that would operate on fish here...

As for the puffer forum, been a member there for a few years and read most of the techniques they used to save / help puffers, but in this case i knew it was going to be extremely limited in what i could do, hence using epsom salt as last resort...

I was even thinking of attempting knocking her out with clove oil and seeing if i could possibly remove whatever was causing the blockage myself, but decided against it incase i did anymore un-necessary damage...

Eitherway, i guess if im being honest i just feel i could have done more considering all us MFK members feel we can help our fish overcome their problems...
 
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