The Puffer Forum

ok now his back fin opened up but he not swimming backandforth.. hes staying vertical.. and his body still isnt straight

J-P wrote:

Pufferpunk wrote:I also highly suggest using clove oil for a weak fish.

then was that a typo? "against" was possibly forgotten?

You are correct, sir!

Did you use the clove oil?

yes..he seem more energetic today but his body still not straight... any one know what this is//?

Clove oil isn't suggested because it was found to cause brain damage. Hopefully he'll come around. Is he eating?

You DID use the CO? Probably brain damage.

yes i used the clove oil. and no hes not eating.. i think its brain damage ive been crying all morning i feel awful. i did this so he wouldnt die from starvation and do i let him live with brain damage??? i dont know what to do next

this his position for the last 30 mins

I'm no expert, but if he's stuck in an odd pose and not eating, in humans that's a bit similar sounding to the bad results of anti psychotics or of a lobotomy.
After this much time has passed, and he hasn't returned to normal, he probably won't. He might have just been too skinny/starved to handle the clove oil.
If he's not eating, he won't make it.

what was the total time under sedation?

yeah, 2 years ago, i used clove oil on a dp who wasnt eating and looked like his beak was overgrown. once out of the oil, he didnt recover. i think it caused brain damage so i felt like the best thing to do was euthanize him. i hated the whole experience and threw away the clove oil not long after... not to mention once the bottle was opened, you really couldnt get rid of the clove smell.

did you take him all the way out of the water? If so you need to "burp" him, Im betting he has sucked in air. To burp him, holding him vertical head up underwater shake him by his tail.

the total time was less then one minute..

then that shouldn't be too bad.

When the puffer stops breathing while under sedation, I suspect, that is the cause for any brain damage that occurred in past incidents.

In his weakened state, he probably wouldn't have struggled much getting his teeth trimmed w/o the CO.