Fish guy ty Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 (edited) I need a bit of help. I’ve had this baby fahaka puffer for about 2 weeks now. He was purchased tank raised. I made sure to see him eat before buying him. He has a great appetite for snails and black worms. He will even eat an occasional vibra bite. But I’ve notice his poop is different than any other fish I have. He has lumpy strings of black poop. I assume the color is from the snails and black worms. But the texture and the fact there is always a piece hanging from him concerns me. I thought about internal parasites but I’m not too sure. Agin he was tank raised and the poop is not white. Does anyone have suggestions? Ph is 7.5, no nitrites, last weeks nitrates were less than 10ppm, temp is around 79-80. I have him in a 10 gallon quarantine tank for now. I Did the round of quarantine trio. I wanted to make sure things were fine before moving to his 75 gallon home. Is there something I’m missing or should do? I would say I’m a novice fish keeper. I have other puffers including two green spotted puffers and 4 figure 8’s. please help. Edited August 19, 2022 by Fish guy ty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJs Aquatics Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 @mountaintoppufferkeeper helped me with all my puffer questions, perhaps he can weigh in here. Personally if it’s been medicated and based on the looks and behavior described it doesn’t strike me as worrisome but I could be wrong, puffers aren’t my area of expertise…. Yet lol 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJs Aquatics Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 I suppose I could add, I have experienced this with guppies many times before and the issue resolved itself. Idk if this is the same sort of thing but with the guppies they ate and ate and ate until they literally had no more room to store food and it begins to basically hang behind them. Idk if that’s there intestinal tract or what, the term escapes me it’s almost a mild form of impaction they gorge themselves and when the food has no where else to go it continues to trail behind them in some cases. It always resolved itself as it was an indication of my overfeeding and once things settled and they released the food it went back to normal, perhaps this could be similar if he’s eating quite a bit but again… no expert at all idk if puffers can even do this but it’s a speculation 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 (edited) Regardless of whether it is or isn't tank raised, etc. It's very likely a good idea to treat for internal parasites. It might be Camallanus Worms but that looks pretty gigantic for those. My other "could be" idea being something like a prolapsed vent or trying to pass something that is way too stressful on the fish. Expel-P or epsom salt baths might be useful. I 1000000% would not suggest doing the epsom salt baths without a ton of research and verifying that a puffer can go through that process. Edited August 19, 2022 by nabokovfan87 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJs Aquatics Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 @nabokovfan87 prolapse was the word I was looking for, thank you lol I would think a full course of the med trio would eliminate most internal parasites, I do know sometimes it takes more, i think I tend to agree with you on the possibility of a prolapsed vent, I did a little Google searching as well and it could honestly be how the worms are being evacuated however my red flag with this would be I wouldn’t think it would be constant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 (edited) I don't think your puffer has parasitic infection it's possible prolapse in the bottom two pictures it could also be that color is from feeding him blood worms Edited August 19, 2022 by Colu 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountaintoppufferkeeper Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 @CJs Aquatics thanks for the heads up. @Fish guy ty congrats on the puffers. I do normally treat with the trio on arrival and watch.I haven't had a fahaka in a while. Puffer poop is pretty food dependant up here. Lumpy hotdogs of whatever color the food had is normal here. I normally dunk or soak food (snails,krill, worms, etc) in garlic extract and vitachem water mix just to get a little more puffer nutrition in them. If its struggling with the process, Brine shrimp might get the system moving easier and possibly daphnia. My puffers up here have their poop change based off food more than any other species. This is a 1/2" F1 Pao cf palustris, spawned here, who crushed about their weight in whiteworms and daphnia in the past 12 hours. The majority of this poop-pearance is due to the heavy diet of whiteworms and the bit of pink lump is from the daphnia bit passing through. If I were to see consistent white with other foods like ramshorn snails, mts, pond snails, cherry shrimp etc I would treat for parasites but if it were changing based off food I wouldn't be concerned. It's a puffer thing in my limited experience across the colonies of Pao cf palustris, Pao baileyi, and Tetraodon miurus. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish guy ty Posted August 19, 2022 Author Share Posted August 19, 2022 Thanks for that info. This makes me feel at ease. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now