Hewbie is swimming upside down!

[AydenLincoln]

Come on, Hewbie!

I know! Tell him to stop giving his Mom (me) mini heart attacks. Honestly at the vet that was the first time someone called me Mom. I guess I never thought about it but I am indirectly his Mom.

 

[winxp_man]

Pods survive 2.35 ppm Cu?!?! Who knew?

Yes they do, and this tanks been running for three months with copper. Hundreds! Well now not
So much with the mandarin going to town on them.

 

[AydenLincoln]

Some updates.
1. This continues to happen after he eats. Clearly it puts pressure on his organs or swim bladder.
2. His vet team from around the world is still putting their heads together. I expect to hear back from them tomorrow.
3. I transitioned him back to crabs and he eats like a little piggy.
4. But eating making him go sideways or upside down and then he just looks like he regrets his decisions. But then he eats more. He loves crabs and shrimp. He is a bit skinny from all of this then again I was told his weight was healthy. So I really do think he is just on the slender side.
I will continue to update. Do I think it is fatal? No. But continued thoughts for him and for me…because one of the treatments discussed early on was injections right into his stomach and I would prefer not to do this!

 

[AydenLincoln]

Also I feed or at less I did soak his food in garlic and selcon or vitachem daily and I wonder if that is catching up to him. I did this for years. As I was always told this good for fish but may cause longterm organ damage (ancestral evidence on both of these). Although the fact that he is better tells me he can recover from this. I also don’t think the vet considered this diagnosis because he has no signs of liver or organ damage. But this has been a thought on my mind. All I can do now is continue to feed what was recommended and keep up with water changes. I do think Hewbie will continue to heal and recover from this.

 

[W31Olds]

Why don't you try feeding him a small amount to see if reacts badly after. Maybe he is gorging large amounts too quickly.

 

[AydenLincoln]

Why don't you try feeding him a small amount to see if reacts badly after. Maybe he is gorging large amounts too quickly.

Even little amounts he still does it just not as bad. He does eat super fast and always has. I will say he never did any of this prior to it starting a few weeks ago. I can tell you because he eats fast that is putting pressure on his organs and swim bladder which causes this per the vet team. He is still recovering I hope he heals fully. Next time I will only give him a tiny piece. He still has some self awareness and control considering I see him move when I walk in the room. I swear every time he sees the gloves he is like, “See look I’m fine I’m swimming normally! I don’t need any more medicine!” Lucky for him the meds finished. After big meals he has always tended to lay in the sand just now he has buoyancy issues. It is almost like us after a large meal we go into a food coma or on Thanksgiving!

 

[C_AWOL]

Also I feed or at less I did soak his food in garlic and selcon or vitachem daily and I wonder if that is catching up to him. I did this for years. As I was always told this good for fish but may cause longterm organ damage (ancestral evidence on both of these). Although the fact that he is better tells me he can recover from this. I also don’t think the vet considered this diagnosis because he has no signs of liver or organ damage. But this has been a thought on my mind. All I can do now is continue to feed what was recommended and keep up with water changes. I do think Hewbie will continue to heal and recover from this.

Garlic might cause some issues in really high quantities from a study I recall doing a long time ago (nothing related to swim bladder that I can recall though) but selcon would likely show other outwardly signs of issues long before internal ones (extreme obesity) which hewbie doesn't seem to show to me.

 

[strich]

Is he being fed underwater or at the surface? If the latter, maybe avoid him gulping air when you feed him by putting it straight to the bottom.

Have you tried doing many small feeds instead of fewer large ones? Maybe he just struggles with this in his age.

 

[AydenLincoln]

Is he being fed underwater or at the surface? If the latter, maybe avoid him gulping air when you feed him by putting it straight to the bottom.

Have you tried doing many small feeds instead of fewer large ones? Maybe he just struggles with this in his age.

I do always feed him underwater. I never have him go to the surface or jump out and yes I have tried feeding less. I can’t however control him coming up to the surface and spitting at me lol. He has had less of an interest in food lately also he is still a young(er) puffer. This worries me. I do have another call will the vet next week. He is around 5-6ish I have had him for over 3 years. TThey should be living at least 10-15 years.

 

[AydenLincoln]

He just ate a few tiny pieces of shrimp as in like half of one. I hope he eats the rest! I think I scare him now he has been puffing his chest at me! I now just need to drop the food and leave at least until he trusts me again. I feel bad. I gave him PTSD/anxiety with the meds and having had to force feed him. He puffed at me one too many times during this entire thing. He literally has been freaking out when he sees me and the tongs and immediately starts puffing up. At least he is eating now and hopefully will continue to. I am going to stop force feeding completely and just drop and leave the food until he trusts me again. On the plus side he still has an appetite and is eating! Even if minimal that is something.

 

[AydenLincoln]

Continue to send healing thoughts to Hewbie! And for those who haven’t seen Hewbie’s custom art! Kilaarts on Etsy does it and she does an amazing job!

 

[KrisReef]

I certainly hope that Hewbie pulls through this season of life to live many more years. I know fishes that have been down who bounced back, and I hope Hewbie surprises us all with a happy comeback. His recent performance has been less than stellar, I think he needs a good talking to. Godspeed Hewbie!

 

[AydenLincoln]

I certainly hope that Hewbie pulls through this season of life to live many more years. I know fishes that have been down who bounced back, and I hope Hewbie surprises us all with a happy comeback. His recent performance has been less than stellar, I think he needs a good talking to. Godspeed Hewbie!

I agree! I have another call with the vet. But I do know I am going above and beyond I just need him and his body to heal and bounce back.

 

[AydenLincoln]

I think eating still puts some pressure on his tummy. He is eating more which is good but I do have to cut it up into super tiny bites and he picks at it. He isn’t fully upside down either which is good but I do think he is still healing. At least he is eating on his own woohoo!

 

[AydenLincoln]

@revhtree Can I get a badge that say Puffer Lover? Or has a bunch of dancing or smiling pufferfish? Please? My favorite!! Preferably porcupine pufferfish? I know you have been known to do custom requests over the years.

 

[AydenLincoln]

He loves frozen oysters and New Zealand Mussels. I am officially declaring Hewbie over all his buoyancy issues and his not eating phase. He will continue to heal if he needs to….but we will never know exactly what caused his buoyancy issue. The vet’s best guess is an internal bacterial infection. She thinks it was worsened by water quality or had some contributing factor. She doesn’t believe it had anything to do with his longterm diet since he is a healthy weight despite being on the slender side so I will continue everything I’m doing and feeding him more to see if he can get some of the weight he lost back. Although when I do this I worsen the water quality and cloud his water. I need to stay more on top of tank maintenance and changing the media more. One of the interesting things she mentioned which I didn’t think of was she said nearly all the issues she sees in exotic pets is due to their environment or exacerbated by it. Which makes a ton of sense. She doesn’t recommend a yearly or bi-yearly vet checkup on him. But she loves the stickers and mini 3D printed Hewbie I gave her…I call them Hewbie’s mascot! I truly do not believe he would have survived any of this without her and her amazing team. And for lunch today Hewbie enjoyed a few pieces of shrimp and crab. For dinner he is getting oysters.

 

[AydenLincoln]

Before and after a two week difference! He is gaining the weight back he lost and his appetite has been great! Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!