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.
12' Fahaka Tooth trimming- I am so scared I will accidentally hurt him
Forum rules
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
- olliesworld
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 22
- Joined: Sun Nov 27, 2016 1:00 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Ollie, Wally and Paulie - Fahaka Puffers in separate massive tanks
- Location (country): USA
12' Fahaka Tooth trimming- I am so scared I will accidentally hurt him
Ollie- Fahaka puffer. I am wrapped around his fin!
- olliesworld
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 22
- Joined: Sun Nov 27, 2016 1:00 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Ollie, Wally and Paulie - Fahaka Puffers in separate massive tanks
- Location (country): USA
Re: 12' Fahaka Tooth trimming- I am so scared I will accidentally hurt him
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)
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)
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Ollie- Fahaka puffer. I am wrapped around his fin!
- Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32775
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Chicago
- Contact:
Re: 12' Fahaka Tooth trimming- I am so scared I will accidentally hurt him
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
This article will help: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_2/ ... uffer2.htm
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
- hadla
- Mbu Puffer
- Posts: 1626
- Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:33 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: 2 gsps and a big Stars and stripes
- Location (country): California
- Location: Sacramento, CA
- Contact:
Re: 12' Fahaka Tooth trimming- I am so scared I will accidentally hurt him
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!
Never trust big puffers. The fingers you save may be your own. -RTR
- hadla
- Mbu Puffer
- Posts: 1626
- Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:33 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: 2 gsps and a big Stars and stripes
- Location (country): California
- Location: Sacramento, CA
- Contact:
Re: 12' Fahaka Tooth trimming- I am so scared I will accidentally hurt him
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
Never trust big puffers. The fingers you save may be your own. -RTR
- hadla
- Mbu Puffer
- Posts: 1626
- Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:33 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: 2 gsps and a big Stars and stripes
- Location (country): California
- Location: Sacramento, CA
- Contact:
Re: 12' Fahaka Tooth trimming- I am so scared I will accidentally hurt him
Nope, I was thinking of something else... shoot sorry
Never trust big puffers. The fingers you save may be your own. -RTR
- olliesworld
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 22
- Joined: Sun Nov 27, 2016 1:00 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Ollie, Wally and Paulie - Fahaka Puffers in separate massive tanks
- Location (country): USA
Re: 12' Fahaka Tooth trimming- I am so scared I will accidentally hurt him
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.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
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!
Ollie- Fahaka puffer. I am wrapped around his fin!
- olliesworld
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 22
- Joined: Sun Nov 27, 2016 1:00 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Ollie, Wally and Paulie - Fahaka Puffers in separate massive tanks
- Location (country): USA
Re: 12' Fahaka Tooth trimming- I am so scared I will accidentally hurt him
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.
Ollie- Fahaka puffer. I am wrapped around his fin!
- astrid37
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 117
- Joined: Sun May 14, 2017 2:37 pm
- My Puffers: Seven T. schoutedeni
- Location (country): US
Re: 12' Fahaka Tooth trimming- I am so scared I will accidentally hurt him
I've purchased Tricaine-S (MS-222) here, too, in the past: https://pentairaes.com/tricainer-s-topi ... s-222.html