Dwarf Puffer in trouble

[chris-in-sf]

Hi there,

Our little dwarf freshwater puffer is lying on the bottom of our tank after I just lifted him to safety from being trapped.

We hadn't seen him since last night and started to look around the 20 gallon. It took me a while to find him but then i saw his little face trapped in a crack of our driftwood! He didn't look good and i thought he was dead, but i got a small plastic straw and pryed him out and he swam away.

But after i minute of swimming he's now sitting on the bottom breathing hard, his spots and color don't look good. but i don't see any physical injuries.

Any suggestions? only time will tell. If he was only trapped for 24 hours or less will he be alright?

Thanks,
CHris

[OrionGirl]

See if he will eat. If so, he should be okay. Probably pretty stressed, and he may have puffed, which is even more stress. Other than offering food and monitoring, not much you can do. They tend to be tough customers, though, so it's likely he'll be okay if no one bugs him for a while.

[chris-in-sf]

Update here,

This morning, he's still sitting on the bottom of the tank, breathing hard. He looks very bloated/puffed, although his color and spots seemed to look better.

I'm also beginning to think that maybe he got sick, and drifted down in to the driftwood and wasn't really stuck. I guess either is a possibility. But he seemed totally healthy just the day before. I just did a water change, none of the other fish are exhibiting any problems.

Maybe he ate a bad worm?

Orion Girl, I tried to feed him this morning and he wouldn't eat, he just moved out of the way. I pretty much fully expect to find him dead when I get home from work today.

:(

Thanks for the help OG.