The Puffer Forum

Oral Abscess?

Ph 7
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 20

55 gallon tank with 125 gph of filtration.

Other inhabitants, red eyed red tailed puffer. There is a divider between the two.

Feeding every other/every third day. Snails, krill, earthworms.

Water changes every other week. Adding only Stress Coat Plus.

No recent changes to tank. Established tank, 4+ years old.

I have a brown/Mekong puffer (turgidus) with a lump on the upper left side of his mouth. It's quite puffy and he refused food tonight. I've never needed to trim teeth. I have finquel so I suppose I could sedate and poke around. I'm going on vacation Saturday and will be gone for a week. I would like to get a handle on this situation before I leave. I'm hoping someone here can help. Thank you!

Gonna need a pic.

Hopefully this helps.

Here's another picture. I did sedate him. I did a teeth trimming while I was in there. The abscess does not appear to be related to the teeth, and seems to be in front of it. Pictures are from after the trimming.

A local pet store suggested Artemiss, thoughts?

What did you see in there?

It's just swollen. I thought maybe a piece of snail shell could be stuck, but I couldn't find anything. The teeth seem fine as well, the abscess appears to be in front of the teeth. I was able to trim the teeth in that area without issue. If I add Epsom salt, how long do I leave it in for?

You leave it in until the swelling has gone down. Replace what you remove in weekly WC.

That's what I thought. There's been no real change but at least it's not worse. He doesn't have an appetite but gill function is normal and he's moving around.