What a CRAZY night!
 

Last night around 11pm my fiance heard splashing from the tank. She called me over and I found my Porcupine Puffer puffed up and floating! I knew right away he had come to the surface and puffed in air. What I didn't realize at the time, was how much. I quickly put on my thick lobster gloves and held him under the water by the tail, head up towards the surface and wiggled him around a little. A few bubbles came out of his gills and mouth. I let him relax, holding him gently in my hands still and he tried to deflate but was unable. I tried again wiggling him around and a few more bubbles came out. This repeated for about an hour and a half. When we started, he was very, very hard and actually punctured through my gloves with his spines :surprise: After about 2 hours of this, he was getting a little "softer" but I thought it was one of those situations I had heard about where the puffer never recovers. Basically I just held him for another 2 hours non stop and moved him around watched as he struggled now and then to deflate. Finally, all of a sudden, he started thrashing around a lot so I let him go and a whole bunch of bubbles came out of his mouth and he finally had deflated...5 1/2 hours later and now 4:30 am :neutral:. Im used to being up late on a Saturday night but not usually holding my puffer and rubbing his belly! I felt so bad for him...

Anyways, this morning, he seems fine. Like it never happened. I assume there has been some damage done though and I can only hope he still lives a normal life. I know puffing shortens their life span and ruins their circulation, so I hope this 5 1/2 hour puff has not done too much of that. I can notice that a lot of his spines are worn down to the bone...kind of look like clear bones sticking out of his back. He ate this morning though and seems normal.

Just thought this was an interesting story.

WOW! That would be a crazy night! I'm glad you were able to help him recover. I hope everything goes well for you from this point on.

Yeah it was very stressful to say the least. I really thought there was no way he was going to recover but I also was not going to stop trying...

I'm glad you didn't stop trying, it just goes to show how being persistence can pay off.

Puffers puff regularly to make sure that they can still do it... kinda like stretching. More than once a month or so, then the puffing is probably stress related and either the stress or the puffing or both will shorten the puffer's life one way or another.

kudos to you for showing that kinda persistence with the fish treatment. Hope the porky recovers. the normal behaviour and ability to eat so soon after the trauma is encouraging.

Im very glad too and Im guessing my puffer is. If I had not been home though, he would have been dead quite fast because they can't breathe properly when floating on the surface. It was like holding a balloon underwater. If you let it go even a little, it goes right to the top. The worst part was watching his eyes dart around...you could see he was stressed.

After about 4 hours of holding him, I started to get very tired and thought it may be over.

That's so sad! I'm glad things are better now.

It is true that they puff for "practice" but my brother (marine biologist, although he does not specialize in Puffers or anything) was telling me it really damages their circulation. Basically their stomach expands all around their organs and right over their spine which is why they can actually get round. Their spine bends with them but it is not good for them to do unless they need to. Apparently this puts a lot of stress on their circulation and sometimes even their organs.

I guess the air gets stuck above his spine and is hard to get out.

Good for you!
Any idea why he inflated in the first place?

Whew, neither of our puffers ever inflated for more than a minute. Good to hear its recovered.

That is dedication. Wowsers....

Mine had never inflated more than a minute either until last night. But he also has never inhaled air...which of course they cannot really exhale by themselves.

I have been wondering all day about why he would have inhaled air but I really have no idea. I do know though that it happens in the ocean too. My fiance is from the caribbean and said they used to do that all the time in the oceans near her and then would wash up on shore, still alive until they suffocated. She said it was always really sad but they would put them back in the ocean and they would just end up back on shore. I guess once they saw about a dozen of them washed up on shore, all inflated. No idea why this happens though.

She also said people catch them there by making them puff up. The puffers like the shallow waters and the guys catching them, follow them around and "herd" them towards the shore until it gets stressed enough and puffs up. Then they simply pick them up and put them in buckets. Or she said if they don't puff up, the guys will poke them with a stick so they do. She said it was really sad to watch because the puffers were so curious and would not shy away from people like other fish...making them easy targets.

I hate to think of all the ways our fish are caught and how many die in the process. And don't kid yourself...stores can say they are coming from reputable wholesalers but unless they are in the country themselves, they really have no idea how the fish are caught. One LFS owner here in Vancouver was telling me that although the Copperbands they get in are suppose to be caught properly, he is pretty sure they are cyanide caught. He was saying there is just no way for him or the wholesaler to know whats happening overseas. And no one cares really.

Sorry that got waaaaaay off topic :)

Yeah he means a lot to me! He my little buddy. The rest of my fish are cool but just kind of there and not like him. He's really important and it did not seem fair to not do all I could to help him. After all, Im the one selfishly keeping him in a relatively small (compared to the ocean) glass cage.

I'm really torn about keeping animals as pets. I've thought it out over and over again and I still can't come up with an answer as to if its right or wrong. I read somewhere that some fish (can't remember which) only have a 3m territory, so that makes me feel a little better. I also like to think that they would have a better life in my home than in the ocean.

I have always had this problem or struggle with how I feel about keeping pets that are better suited to life in the wild...fish. But I think depending on species, like you said above, it can be a better life in a tank than the ocean. You hear people say all the time, well my tank is way better because they have no predators and get fed but I don't buy that as a good reason at all. Theres way more to it than that. Species like some anthias, live their whole lives around a single sea fan or clowns which barely leave an anenome but others migrate and swim long distances...like tangs.

I could never keep a tang in a tank ever again since diving last year in Australia. Watching them in the wild made me realize how "unnatural" they act in tanks. I feel really bad for tangs.

But who knows...its really up to you and how you feel. I just think diving and seeing these beautiful in the ocean makes you realize how different they act in captivity. Whether thats a bad thing is up to you :)

That's crazy! Kudos to you for sticking with it for that long - your fingers must still be raisins!

Keep us updated on how he does

No raisin fingers...I wore gloves :) If I had not, I would have had bloody raisin fingers because his spikes are very sharp. They punctured my gloves!

He seems to be fine today still.