The Puffer Forum

Please, I need advice and maybe reassurance? I have hustled to provide Ollie with super crunchy food for three years now, including elaborately quarantined small live redclaw crabs every few days, having a snail breeding farm (three big tanks), five crawdad breeding tanks, feeding him clams, etc etc, but still I need to trim his teeth. He looks a bit bucktoothed and can’t grab the crabs in the middle, since last week. Heartbreaking. He is otherwise in great condition, happy and healthy and begging as usual.

I have searched extensively over the past two weeks and there is no one in the Sacramento CA region who is willing to do this ("too risky" "liability" etc). So, I have to take care of my buddy.

I am researching puffer dentistry a lot - have read Pufferpunk's article (thank you!) and any others I can find. Most are for smaller puffs though - Ollie is big, nearly a foot long now- so I have some questions.

1. I have read that MS 222 is better than clove oil. I can’t seem to be able to purchase it online though- anyone buy it recently? Where? Dosing tips?
2. I ordered the battery-powered dremel tool that has cutting wheel and smoothing attachment, and will practice on the corners of tiles for a few days. I have safety glasses too, and gloves. Handling tips?
3. I bought two ten gallon buckets to half fill - one for anesthesia water and one for recovery water. Will wrap carefully and store both in garage rafters afterward, in case needed in the future. His tank is 300 gallons, so it will be easy to fill those with warm water from it the day of the dentistry. Airstone needed?
4. Where do you dump that stuff? Not down the drain I presume. Hole dug in back yard?
5. What is best for my "assistant" to hold him in while I cut the teeth? Netting, towel, moleskin?
Am I missing anything?

Sorry for all the questions, I had sure hoped this day would never come but here we are. Time for action. Thanks in advance for any advice.

At least I found a brave friend willing to help. Most others are scared also!

If buying a puff that will get large please consider some day maybe having to do this, that's why I posted here rather than in "sick fish". I really hustled to keep his teeth down, including all these snail and marmorkrebs tanks and a $30/week live crab bill. But alas - his teeth slowly grew too long anyway.

(the photo is one I caught yesterday with his lips drawn back, usually I can only see the tips of the teeth - I kept thinking more crabs, etc. would wear the teeth down until I snapped this shot! He was eating crabs and everything else just fine until last week)

Hi, Sorry I missed this yesterday! Not to worry--I have done dentistry on a fahaka this size. I used clove oil. I am very surprised that with the great crunchy diet you offer, this is an issue at all.
This article will help: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_2/ ... uffer2.htm

I’m in Sacramento! I’d be happy to help you! Too bad I didn’t know you were here a few months ago when I sent my ms222 to my friend in Washington! I think we have some at Aqua life though and I’ll get back to you later!

This was where I had gotten it from since I didnt think any stores sold it here: https://www.thepondoutlet.com/home/tpo/page_15650

Nope, I was thinking of something else... shoot sorry

Pufferpunk wrote: ↑Tue May 07, 2019 11:09 am Hi, Sorry I missed this yesterday! Not to worry--I have done dentistry on a fahaka this size. I used clove oil. I am very surprised that with the great crunchy diet you offer, this is an issue at all.
This article will help: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_2/ ... uffer2.htm

Thank you! I know, I thought we would be okay considering the crunch in his diet but those teeth just kept slowly growing. He is still eating small crayfish, shrimp, worms, snails and clams just fine, but I dont want those teeth to get any worse, since he can't seem to eat the crabs now. I appreciate the reassurance.

PS- I have two other Fahaka - siblings/same age- in other huge tanks and their teeth are fine on the same diet.
Just goes to further prove what you always tell us Pufferpunk- all of them are indeed different!

hadla wrote: ↑Tue May 07, 2019 1:57 pm I’m in Sacramento! I’d be happy to help you! Too bad I didn’t know you were here a few months ago when I sent my ms222 to my friend in Washington! I think we have some at Aqua life though and I’ll get back to you later!

Oh wow that would be amazing. I am such a newbie at this!
It would be great to meet another local puffer keeper too.
I have six, all in separate tanks-- three big fahaka, a dragon, and two pignose puffs. The rest of the tanks in my house are to raise puffer food! Quite the adventure.

I've purchased Tricaine-S (MS-222) here, too, in the past: https://pentairaes.com/tricainer-s-topi ... s-222.html