Fahaka Puffer- bloated and possible prolapse

[shannalea]

Hello, I read through all the previous threads I could find on this topic and I'm wondering if there is any more specific advice for my freshwater Puffer.

I noticed quite a bit of bloating about 2 days ago, decided to give it time and keep watch. It's bloated more on the left side of his belly. The bloating has not gone down but also not gotten worse. Today I noticed something near (or coming out of) his butt... did some more research and found this site. I'm not sure what to do next.... is it a prolapse? Is it a parasite? I just don't know!

Previous threads suggested feeding peas, brine shrimp or adding Epsom Salt.

A bit of backstory: my Puffer is about 3 1/2 years old, 150 gal tank with no other fish. I feed him red worms, nightcrawlers, mystery and ramshorn snails. He won't eat clams on the shell unfortunately. I did a 50% water change 4 days ago and he was acting normal/no bloating, etc. This is my first aquarium and I have alot to learn. This fish was gifted to me by an ex who was an aquarium hobbiest and lived with me at the time. They moved out about a year ago and I've been trying to learn as much as I can although I must admit it's very hard to find information online in regards to puffers beyond the basic "abc's" of fish care.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated! I'm sure there is more I should be doing but hopefully I'm just being paranoid...

Attached are several photos, it was difficult to get a good angle so i hope these are helpful.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello, I read through all the previous threads I could find on this topic and I'm wondering if there is any more specific advice for my freshwater Puffer.

I noticed quite a bit of bloating about 2 days ago, decided to give it time and keep watch. It's bloated more on the left side of his belly. The bloating has not gone down but also not gotten worse. Today I noticed something near (or coming out of) his butt... did some more research and found this site. I'm not sure what to do next.... is it a prolapse? Is it a parasite? I just don't know!

Previous threads suggested feeding peas, brine shrimp or adding Epsom Salt.

A bit of backstory: my Puffer is about 3 1/2 years old, 150 gal tank with no other fish. I feed him red worms, nightcrawlers, mystery and ramshorn snails. He won't eat clams on the shell unfortunately. I did a 50% water change 4 days ago and he was acting normal/no bloating, etc. This is my first aquarium and I have alot to learn. This fish was gifted to me by an ex who was an aquarium hobbiest and lived with me at the time. They moved out about a year ago and I've been trying to learn as much as I can although I must admit it's very hard to find information online in regards to puffers beyond the basic "abc's" of fish care.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated! I'm sure there is more I should be doing but hopefully I'm just being paranoid...

Attached are several photos, it was difficult to get a good angle so i hope these are helpful.

Prolapse is very possible and this may be from constipation. While prolapse will often retract on its own, If fish is eating, Feeding it brine shrimp will often serve as a laxative and help with constipation and bloating.
Not sure what foods were being fed but something is not passing through likely.
Intestinal blockage is my suspect.

 

[lion king]

Using pure epsom salt, 100% magnesium sulfate with no other ingredients, will help with digestion issues including blockages. For a brackish water tank I'm not sure the dosage, so you;ll have to find that out.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hello, I read through all the previous threads I could find on this topic and I'm wondering if there is any more specific advice for my freshwater Puffer.

I noticed quite a bit of bloating about 2 days ago, decided to give it time and keep watch. It's bloated more on the left side of his belly. The bloating has not gone down but also not gotten worse. Today I noticed something near (or coming out of) his butt... did some more research and found this site. I'm not sure what to do next.... is it a prolapse? Is it a parasite? I just don't know!

Previous threads suggested feeding peas, brine shrimp or adding Epsom Salt.

A bit of backstory: my Puffer is about 3 1/2 years old, 150 gal tank with no other fish. I feed him red worms, nightcrawlers, mystery and ramshorn snails. He won't eat clams on the shell unfortunately. I did a 50% water change 4 days ago and he was acting normal/no bloating, etc. This is my first aquarium and I have alot to learn. This fish was gifted to me by an ex who was an aquarium hobbiest and lived with me at the time. They moved out about a year ago and I've been trying to learn as much as I can although I must admit it's very hard to find information online in regards to puffers beyond the basic "abc's" of fish care.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated! I'm sure there is more I should be doing but hopefully I'm just being paranoid...

Attached are several photos, it was difficult to get a good angle so i hope these are helpful.

This may well be air in the intestines, but it could also be from a blockage. The air may pass on its own, but the blockage could be severe. Epsom salts at one tablespoon per ten gallons might help with that. I don’t know though, if that might affect the live plants - I don’t think so, but I haven’t dosed a lot of planted tanks with it.
Jay

 

[shannalea]

Thanks everyone for the advice. He unfortunately did not make it.

I'm not sure what happened tbh, but it escalated VERY quickly. The only thing i can think of is during his weekly water change on Sunday I rearranged some of his rocks to make a bigger cave for him- maybe that stirred something up from the substrate?

Yesterday I tried feeding peas since brine shrimp were not readily available but he would not eat them. I also did the Epsom Salt, a few hours later I noticed some white spots (fuzzy and irregular shaped looked like mold?) On his back, and decided to do a water change just to be on the safe side. (Even though I just did a water change 3 days prior) added more epsom after the water change... he was acting mostly normal besides not eating.

This morning he was less active, but not quite lethargic. The spots were a bit more spread but nothing crazy By any means or I'd have called in to work to treat him immediately . So i went to work and went to get tank treatment on my lunch break so I could do that as soon as I got home. But it was too late sadly.... he was gone when I arrived home, whatever was causing the issue had escalated very quickly and spread over most of his body while I was at work. Not sure if that was related to the prolapse or just coincidence that both problems happened around the same time.

Adding a pic in the event it can be diagnosed and help someone in the future in a similar situation.

Very sad day, Syd was such a vibrant and energetic pet and I'll miss him dearly.

(Syd is a nickname-his full name was "P Sherman 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney Australia")

R.I.P.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Sorry to see - that looks like a really virulent external bacterial infection. That sort of came out of left field, I was focused on the swelling….
Jay