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.