Porcupine puffer distended belly

[Pwdiver]

Our fish isnt eating the way he/she used to has gotten real picky about 7 inch's long the salinity is about 1.026 the alkalinity is about 7.7 to 8.1 the water temp varies from 73 to 78 during the day

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hi - Welcome to Reef2Reef!

We’ll need some additional info, plus some pics/video to try to get you pointed in the right direction. Please take a look at the questions outlined in the link below my name here, or at the top of the fish disease section. Try to answer what you can....
Thanks,
Jay

 

[vetteguy53081]

That a wide fluctuation with temperature and not healthy.
Salinity a little high.
what foods are you offering and what is your ammonia and nitrate readings?

try to maintain:
Temperature 76-79
Ph 8.0-8.2
Salinity 1.025
Moderate light and water flow

foods:
Krill
Plankton
Mussels
Clam
Silversides
LRS herbivore diet which is meaty

Add garlic extract and selcon vitamins to the foods 2-3x per week

 

[Pwdiver]

Today I checked my water again with what I have
salinity 1.027 going to do a 10 fresh water change its a 75 gallon tank
alkalinity 131ppm 7.336
temp 76.1
Calc 493
Po4 .25+/-
Nitrate 50+
Don't know if its male or female be we call him Chub's he is back to eating Krill as of 2 day's ago he used to love silver sides and clams but as of late doesn't seem to want them he will eat on occasion cut up shrimp and squid I will send pictures soon

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Porcupines often go through phases where they prefer one food over another, and then change it up. The pictures or video will help trying to figure out the distended belly issue.
Jay

 

[Pwdiver]

Hi - Welcome to Reef2Reef!

We’ll need some additional info, plus some pics/video to try to get you pointed in the right direction. Please take a look at the questions outlined in the link below my name here, or at the top of the fish disease section. Try to answer what you can....
Thanks,
Jay

 

[Pwdiver]

I finally got a picture

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I finally got a picture

Thanks. That is definitely abnormal. The belly is protruding in one spot, not overall, so the issue isn’t over feeding. The problem is since it is internal, there is no treatment. It could be an intestinal blockage or a tumor. The blockage would have shown up all at once, while a tumor would grow over time. Is the fish still eating some foods?
Jay

 

[Pwdiver]

Yes but not like it used to, this belly has been this way for quit a while we got him/her in oct of 2019 was only about 2.5 inches long when he would eat clams he would sometimes break the shell to pieces and other times would just pull the clam off the shell and drop the shell

 

[Pwdiver]

I dont think the belly has gotten any bigger than what you see

 

[Pwdiver]

Well this morning around 945 am he decided to blow up and is still blown up almost an hour later

 

[Paul B]

Did you ever remove him from the water and have him blow up?

 

[Pwdiver]

No I havent had him out of the water since we got him/her in october of 2019

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

No I havent had him out of the water since we got him/her in october of 2019

I’ve had porcupines inflate for 30 minutes or so, on a fairly routine case in one large one we had. Did yours finally deflate?
Jay

 

[Pwdiver]

Yes he did when we got home around 7pm last night he was back to normal size, we left the house around 1pm he was still inflated he appears as he always does when looking in on him this morning

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Yes he did when we got home around 7pm last night he was back to normal size, we left the house around 1pm he was still inflated he appears as he always does when looking in on him this morning

O.K., well, that's good. As I said, with these chronic internal issues, there really isn't any home treatment available.

Jay

 

[Pwdiver]

O.K., well, that's good. As I said, with these chronic internal issues, there really isn't any home treatment available.

Jay

My puffer died last week thanks for the info you shared with me

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Sorry, I don't suppose you cut it open to see what it might have been?

Jay

 

[Paul B]

I would have.

 

[Plzpizza]

My puffer died last week thanks for the info you shared with me

It could of been trapped air inside that he couldn’t let out. Puffers sometimes have trouble releasing air if they have inhaled it when the blown up.

did he ever gulp air when you fed him before maybe that could be the issue.