I have a porcupine puffer that has over inflated. He has a tear down one side. however the inflation lining is still intact and is clear . Its his outer skin that has cut open. i checked the cut did and luckily it did not extend to one side of his gill. has anyone ever seen this and what usualy happens in this case? What can i do to increase his chances of survival?

tank size? parameters? what else is in the tank with him? Any possibility he has air?

i have a 180 gallon tank it has a lion fish , panther grouper, burrfish puffer, 3 damsels, and a hippo tang. sometimes the lion fish and the puffer get into it over the food. usually i am really good and keeping them away from each other during feeding but this was a rare occurance. all the fish get along really well. i dont understand what you mean by air, but i do see a inflatable bladder and it is not cut and is still functional. the outer sin is cut on his underside.

If a puffer jumps near the top of the tank (ie being chased) and inhales at the wrong moment, they'll inhale air which they can't exhale without our intervention.

How long has it been inflated?

Are you dosing vitamin c/garlic yet? running UV or ozone?

Honestly I'm at a loss on what else that can be done to help

when he enlarged himself he was not at the top of the water. I dont know how to dose with vitamin c garlic. can you tell me what to use or what i need to get from the pet store. i am currently using ro/di water and have a uv sterilizer.

Hey aarons1231 ~ sorry to hear about your puffer.

I agree with lostanime that vitamin C and garlic suppliments are a good idea...both now and at any time. They are easy to use and can be found at any good LFS. There may be other forms that I don't know about but for the most part, they are simply concentrated liquids that you would soak food in shortly before feeding it to your fish. If you ask your LFS rep, you should have no problem finding these suppliments and while they may seem like they come in small quantities, they last quite a while because you'd only use a drop or two with each feeding.

I'm not sure what other steps you can take right now other than to help support your fish by making sure it has the healthiest environment to heal within. I know it might not be as common in every area but perhaps you might be able to find a veterinarian in your area that could talk to as I would think closing an open wound would best be taken care of with some sort of stitching. Otherwise, it might help to post a picture, if possible, so that we would be able to have a better idea of your exact situation.

TG