Immaculate Puffer Emergency Damaged Exploded

RyanFish · Nov 7, 2018

Hi everyone,
I have 4 puffers in my saltwater tank and have never encountered something like this. My immaculate puffer had a few small bites from other puffers but was otherwise fine. They were introductory surface bites, not “I want to kill you bites”. He is healthy and eats and has been a member of the tank for the past 2 months. He gets along with all the fish and other puffers.

This morning i woke up and discovered that he had a huge bubble under his stomach. (3 pictures are attached below.) It is NOT an air bubble. The skin underneath is very damaged and loose. Also those white dots that show on puffers due to severe damage are all over the inflated area. He is swimming around fine but his breathing is a faster than usual and he is refusing to eat, its been about 8 hours. Currently he is in a separate tank alone. I could not figure out what happened or if another fish attacked him. He doesn’t have the circle marks that are typical from puffer bites but it’s possible that the skin where he was bit has been taken/fallen off.
Does anyone know what to do or what is going on? Is he hemorrhaging or did he blow up and damage his skin permanently? Again I haven’t had this happen before and would appreciate any help!

Old Fritz · Nov 7, 2018

I recommend moving him to qt and seeing results there. those white dots are normal if he puffed up. If he is getting bullied he might've blown up.

Did he eat a lot the last time you saw him? Have you seen him go to the bathroom?

RyanFish · Nov 7, 2018

Old Fritz said:
I recommend moving him to qt and seeing results there. those white dots are normal if he puffed up. If he is getting bullied he might've blown up.

Did he eat a lot the last time you saw him? Have you seen him go to the bathroom?

Thank you for your response
I didn’t see him blow up. No where else on his body has the white dots. Usually when a puffer blows up his whole body excluding tail and fins have the white dots and that is usually for a short period after the blow up. This immaculate puffer has an odd and damaged protrusion with white dots only on his front lower belly that isn’t going down.
He ate yesterday and i saw him go to the bathroom about 3 hours ago.

Old Fritz · Nov 7, 2018

I agree it looks weird. Maybe he is still holding water up in his stomach, that could explain the lack of appetite and why his stomach is still so expanded. I doubt its a disease or infection as that rarely develops over night.