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

[predatorkeeper87]

^ 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...

I know you are knowledgeable on fish and the specifics so please don't take any advice I give as me telling you that you could have done anything differently but if you do decide to try another puffer maybe have some Epsom salts on hand and if this were to occur again try and force feed a premixed solution of it. I had a Senegal poly get blocked up before, poor little guy was swollen like a balloon in the middle of his abdomen. I netted and syringed some Epsom salts down his throat and in about 2 days he had cleared the blockage completely.

 

[Gr8KarmaSF]

So sorry...

 

[rodger]

Man, Homer. Really sad to hear this. I always make it a point to read what you post. You are a very knowledgeable fish keeper and I am confident that you did all that you could.
I say go ahead and get another when you are up to it. A Fahaka is better than a dog!

 

[Fat Homer]

P predatorkeeper87 : thanks for the tip, i tend to normally keep epsom salt on hand, and slso have a syringe for dosing meds... So will definitely keep this trick in mind if i ever come across a similar problem...

Gr8KarmaSF : thanks for that

rodger : thanks for the kind words, but i guess no matter how experience we sometimes feel we are, its always those unexpected that gets us, and when its something major, its that much worse coz there are so few options for us fish keepers as far as getting vetinary help...

With this case i just felt so bad i couldnt do anything for her, was even calling her not to give up on me, hoping it would somehow help...

At the end of the day though, i definitely love puffers, they will always be my passion as far as fish keeping goes, so who knows? Maybe one day there will be that one puffer that absolutely grabs my attention like this one did when i first saw her at the store begging me to take her home out of the 20 or so puffers in a tank...

 

[Thekid]

Wow, sorry for your loss.

I had a similar issue with a porcupine puffer and crab legs after several years so this really hits home for me.

 

[Fat Homer]

^ thanks, and sorry to hear that you had to go through this as well...

Although now hearing you had faced a similar problem leads me to believe this might happen a lot more than one might expect...

Now the question would be how can one try and minimize the risks of this happening when feeding hard shelled seafood...