The Puffer Forum

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.

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!

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

Is it Eugenol?

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.

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

or at least delay it for much longer.

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??

Ghost shrimp are pretty good.

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

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.

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