Please help! what is wrong with my dog face puffer? Pics attached

[hrairguitar]

My dog face puffer is having some major issues. 4 days ago it was a stud then started acting weird and lethargic and had some stringy bubbly lookin stuff dangling from its mouth. I tested my water with 2 different test kits and had my LFS test as well and they all said everything was right on. The following day it started eating and seemed normal. I gave it some frozen shrimp prawns dipped in iodine. I did a 25% water change and added some carbon because it had been a couple months since I added some carbon. After that my skimmer started going nuts! I think it might have been this water conditioner I used that was given to me from a friend that had some extra supplies. I usually used Seachem Prime.

Now my puffers face is so swollen and it doesnt even look like a dog face puffer. It looks like some mutated fish. I did a 75% water change this morning with the Seachem Prime and my skimmer is back to normal but my puffer still looks bad. It just recently in the last hour started swimming a lot but it wont eat and his face is still messed up. No signs of scars or ich. Just a weird looking fish

Pics attached. I called my LFS and asked if they'd ever seen anything like that and they said no. I googled and found nothing resembling these symptoms. Please help if you have any clue whats wrong or what I can do. He's by far my favorite fish and its so frustrating not knowing whats wrong with him.

 

[roenicknewf]

Oh boy ,,now i feel bad when i told you it was probably nothing because that is definitely something ...What IDK,but i hope you can figure it out and heal him up

 

[hrairguitar]

Well I'm sad to say that 3 hours after posting this I came home to find him dead stuck between my skimmer pump and intake. So sad and frustrated about this. Every other fish is just fine. The most sensitive fish in the tank i'd think would have been the yellow tang or flame angel and they are business as usual. The puffer had tons of hiding places and no fish picked on it at all. I have no idea if it was stress or disease related. There were no marks or ich spots and the body looked normal but the face, well the pictures speak for themselves

 

[rafleming]

same problem

same problem

Had same problem. I took my to Auburn University (I do work for the fish hatcheries ) They said puffers can have bad reactions to food sort of like food poison. Mine did same thing twice took two weeks first time but lived 6 months later did it again and was dead in a week.

 

[hrairguitar]

oh man. So it was possibly somethin to do with the frozen shimp prawns? The LFS i got it from said they were feeding it that. I wonder if it was the brand. It's the same shrimp I've been feeding more coral cat shark for the past year and it's never had any issues. Never would have thought the food would have been an issue but I guess its possible. Every other fish in the tank is still acting normal but after thinking about it the symptoms the puffer was displaying was like an alergic reaction. Or maybe the polyp or blasto it took a bite out of caused it. Definitely seems probable after thinking about it.

Thanks for the reply!