The Puffer Forum

About 24 hours ago I had to place my F8 in clove oil to trim his teeth. Everything went fine and I put him in the fresh water once I was done. He came back all right and I put him back in the tank. He seemed to act normal. But he slowly began to act more and more unusual. It started with him just swimming in one corner of the tank. Now he swims vertically with his tail pointing upward. He swims very slow and bumps into things. He does not seem to be getting better. He is in a tank with other fish and I do not know if that may be stressing him out. Is this normal? What should I do?

How long was he in the oil? How much did you use?

I added 3 cups of tank water and 3 drops of clove oil to that. It took about 3 minutes for him to fall asleep and then he was only under for about 2 minutes. I got nervous and put him back in the fresh water before I was done. So I did not do a very good job. He is breathing quite heavily as well.

Perhaps he was in the oil for too long. Clove oil is used to euthanize fish as well. I am not too knowledgeable about puffer dentistry, but just keep an eye on him. PufferPunk wrote the article in the library so I am sure she could help you more about it. Good Luck and I hope the little guy is ok.

Did you give the CO water a good stir before adding the fish? 3 minutes is way longer than it ever took my fish to fall asleep. Only about 30 seconds on average.

I did all of that and I read the directions carefully. That is why I did not want to work on him too long because I knew it should not have taken that long. I think he may have been too weak when I did it. Sadly, Steve (my puffer) passed away this afternoon. I think he went too long without the trimming and was just too weak to handle the CO. Thank you for your advice. I will definitely keep all of this in mind if (hopefully not, because I will take extra caution for the future) I have to do this again. Thanks again. I will miss Steve very much. I was pretty attached to the little guy.

I am sorry to hear about Steve. Puffers certainly do worm their way into your heart.

My F8s always seem to take awhile to pass out. Your dosage and method sound right, I don't think you did anything wrong. Unfortunately dentistry is risky at the best of times.

Keep your chin up.

Oh I am so sorry about Steve.