The Puffer Forum

This is Faya when i got her 3 days.. 21-10-08


This one from 23-12-08


From 11-01-09


And from 19-03-09

Round then she began to 'eat' her lip..

So she had them, but now they are gone..

Maybee it is because of the sand, this one in her new tank is coarser than the sand in her old tank...
I Can't think an other reason...

She has a "granny-with-no-teeth lips" look hehehe

But like I told you today earlier when I noticed she didn't had the upper teeth, maybe because of an infection earlier on it never healed 100% and made her upper teeth go away. One idea is to completely trim her bottom teeth so the infection can heal... But I know it's not one of your favorites..

I've looked al my pic's of Faya and i can't fing any marks of an infection... In the first 2 months that she was here she's going from very big teeth to no teeth.. but i realy have no idea why..
With a snail i've tried to look better in her mouth, but there is nothingh strange to see.. no wounds, no teeth and no blood or anything.. It realy looks like a granny with no teeth anymore in her upper jaw.. it is realy all gone...

I think this is a veeeeeeery strange thing for a puffer.. and i've never heard of it before..so i realy have no idea what is the best thing that i can do so that Faya is not finding problems with her Granny look

I'd just like to point out that the fahaka looks rather young/small. It is pretty unlikely that it is overgrown teeth, but rather an unproportional bite like Nick (I think) said.

I don't understand all that you say.. Faya is older than 19 months and she is 18.5cm.. She don't have a unproportional (?) bite..like you can see on the pic's. But in the 8 months before i had her she has been neglected (very little and bad food and very small tank).. That's the reason why she not looks like an other Fahaka

Nobody an idea what I can do or how it can be??

Posted my best diagnosis and theory already, disproportionate bottom teeth. I'd still guess the best bet is to proportionately(without doing harm( overtrim the lower teeth so they don't overbite enough to cut the lip, and feed soft foods until her entire beak is proportionate enough to pinch shut without hitting her lips. I'm really just guessing though, this isn't a common condition. I suppose it's possible she decided to chew something way too hard all on her own(maybe gravel?) and snapped her uppers teeth nearly off.

There is a possibility the upper teeth have broken off on something very hard but they may grow back eventually. If you do decide to tranquilize her, you can look at her upper plate & trim her lower ones.

If you can get Melafix near you, I'd keep it in the tank at all times to help her lip heal, if it continues to get damaged by the lower teeth.

I really have no idea what it is or how it happens every time.. She doesn't get any more 'hard' food, only soft shrimp's and it looks that it is now a scar. It wasn't open anymore and it looks like Faya doesn't have a problem with it, so it's fine for me

Thx voor al the advice! I hope that her teeth doesn't grow anymore, because i doooooooon't want to cut her teeth

You might just have to continue to feed soft foods and trim her teeth periodically.

She only eats soft food now. And that trimming.. i don't understand why people say that al the time.. her teeth are sow little, upper and under, why should i trim them? They are max 2mm... you can not trim that! So why put her under anesthesia? That is only stress...

Don't get me wrong, if her teeth are getting big, i would do it, but with very little teeth.. it is not necessary..

Her scar, like what it is now, is fine. It is not getting bigger and Faya seems to have no problem with it

Of course, you would only trim them when they get too long.