Buck Tooth Puffer

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
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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.
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Bingo
Puffer Fry
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Joined: Fri Oct 06, 2006 2:31 pm

Buck Tooth Puffer

Post by Bingo »

Hi. I was referred to this site by Kelly aka PufferQueen @ MarineDepot.com

I have posted a similar message at MarineDepot.com....

I have a puffer and its got buck teeth.

It has been suggested that I pull the puffer out and clip its teeth. Just the thought of it has me worried and sick to my stomach. I'm afraid I might kill the fish when I pull it out and/or by the sedation. But.. I am willing to do anything to help my puffer.

Also... I've noticed my purple tang is starting to become aggressive towards my puffer and that I'm NOT happy about. I'm guessing its because my puffer can't snip back at it.

So.... I got the cuticle nippers and I've been looking for clove oil. I can't find clove oil anywhere. I DID find "CLOVE BUD" oil. Can somebody confirm if clove oil and clove bud oil are the same or not????

I'm hoping to clip puffer's teeth tonight... but I won't until I know for certain if I have the correct clove oil.

Also... I'm wondering if its not to late to put the proper food in the tank so that the puffer can break its own teeth??? Its teeth do NOT overlap the bottom lip... but the teeth are quite close to the bottom lip.

I'll do whatever is best for the puffer... with as little stress as possible.

Thanks in advance for getting back to me and for your advice.
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Phaedrus
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Post by Phaedrus »

I'm not sure about the clove bud oil.

check out this article if you haven't already: http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8

It's probably too late for food to help. After you trim the teeth though you should definately start feeding more appropriate puffer food to prevent it from happening again. see here for some food ideas: http://www.thepufferforum.com/articles/puffer/food.html

oh, and welcome to the forum!
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Puffer Queen
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Post by Puffer Queen »

Here is the link/thread that Bingo mentioned:
http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic47157-10-1.aspx
Kelly
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Pufferpunk
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Post by Pufferpunk »

Is it Eugenol?
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!"
Bingo
Puffer Fry
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Post by Bingo »

Puffer Queen wrote:Here is the link/thread that Bingo mentioned:
http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic47157-10-1.aspx

Thanks to you... surgery went well. The links were amazing and helpful. I did exactly what was mentioned in the link. I used the Clove Bud Oil and within second puffer flipped over.. I picked him up with the net.. I clipped his teeth. (Now he's GUMfer). I placed him back in the recovery tank water.. he came to his senses within seconds... and when I felt he was totally back to his normal ways.. I placed him back in the tank... LIGHTS OUT and he started swimming around.

He ate fine... actually he's eating like a pig now.

* BIG SIGH*

I can't thank you enough Kelly!!!! *BIG HUGS*


And thanks to the rest who responded. I'm thankful for the advice and a great site to visit.
Pandora114
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Post by Pandora114 »

Now, start giving him snails and crunchy foods like shrimp to keep his teeth down so you dont have to do that again :D

or at least delay it for much longer.
Bingo
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Post by Bingo »

You know.. when I first got puffer... he was eating all my snails. But, for some reason he stopped eating them.

I just recently bought 3 corals for him to nibble on... as I am trying to entice him to keep good dental habits! LOL!

Shrimp? What sort of shrimp??
Pandora114
Green Spotted Puffer
Posts: 397
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 1:28 pm
My Puffers: C. travancoricus RIP both of you little guys. Tank will be a F8 after GSP goes full marine
T. nigroviridis Named Pepsi
Location: Comox Valley, BC, Canada
Contact:

Post by Pandora114 »

Ghost shrimp are pretty good.

Gut load them up with some algea wafers and drop them in with your puffer :D

I suggest keeping them in a seperate smaller aquarium so he doesn't eat them all up in one night. heheh, that way you can at least keep up a breedable population. Same with snails acctually.
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Pufferpunk
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Posts: 32976
Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles
Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
Location: Greenville, SC
Contact:

Post by Pufferpunk »

People shrimp tails help. Read the article on feeding your puffer in our Library.
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!"
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