The Puffer Forum

Hi
My F8 has been very 'toothy' for a long time and I have had two failed attempts to clip them. The first time she woke up too quickly and the second time I couldn't get to grips with ths clippers and ended up panicking and only managed to clip a tiny bit of tooth off.
She has up until recently managed quite well with her long teeth but I have noticed over tha past week or two that she was definately starting to struggle, so I roped in a little helper and psyched myself up for another go.
All went well, she went to sleep quickly and although I found it very difficult to see exactly what I was cutting, I amanaged to clip off quite a large piece of her beak and then put her back in water to recover. She woke up ok and although was a bit dozy for a while, she is now happy and swiming as usual.
The problem is she seems very reluctant to shut her mouth and although interested in food. doesn't seem to be able to bite properly!! Do you think I might have hurt her or taken too much off ( there was no blood or anything horrid and it was only beak that I found when I inspected the clippings!!) I am also wondering if she has got used to having her mouth open because of her long teeth and maybe she can't shut her mouth properly.
I did see her manage to suck in a small piece of mussell but she didn't seem to be able to bite the larger pieces and in the end gave up !!
Is there anything I can do to help her or should I just be patient and see how she goes.
I do hope I haven't hurt her in anyway
Regards
Sue

Sorry I think I should have posted this in the hospital forum, could somebody move it for me
Thank you
Sue

His jaw may be a little stretched out from being open so much. Give him another day to get used to having a normal mouth. Maybe offer him something softer, like worms.

Hi
I have left my puffer alone today but she still seems the same as yesterday. Her mouth is wide open and although she wants food and tries to eat it, she is failing miserably, poor thing. I have offered her, frozen bloodworm, live bloodworm , brine shrimp and some little pieces of mussell. Most of it she gets into her mouth but doesn't seem to be able to chew or swallow and just spits it out. I did see her manage a small piece of mussell, and she had a little tummy this evening. She looks quite sad now and I feel terrible, what on earth have I done to her?????
I think I will leave her today and try and feed her with a pipette tomorrow, but any ideas as to how I can help my poor fishy would be very much welcome
Thanks
Sue

Have you tried worms? Is it possible you left a corner of the tooth?

I have tried her with fresh and frozen worms, she takes them into her mouth and spits them straight out. I can't see any bit of tooth left at the side, if anything I think I cut too much tooth off, but if she doesn't improve in the next few days I gues I may have to put her to sleep again and have a closer look. She doesn't look very happy right now and I feel terrible!!!

I have found she can manage a bit of mussell if I giver her a largish bit which i have rubbed between my fingers and loosened it up a bit, she takes it into her mouth and spits it out again but I think a few of the smaller bits are going down as she has a slightly rounded tummy now afterwards.
I do hope she gets better, I couldn't bear to think i have hurt her
Sue

If it was mine, I'd sedate it and check to see if there are any jagged bits or damage.

Add Melafix too.

Thanks
I will get some melafix tomorrow and sedate her again at the weeeknd if there is no improvement
Sue

Hello again.
I have been adding melafix to my tank for the past few days and today I sedated my puffer again to have a good look inside her mouth.
On close inspection, I can't see any reason why she can't shut her mouth properly,there is no redness orany sharp bits of teeth but I have obviously cut far too much of her top teeth off and can only see a tiny bit of tooth on her top plate so I imagine that is at least part of her problem!!!
She seems quite happy and is acting and playing as normal,and is asking for food but is still really struggling to eat properly. The only answer I can see for now is too keep feeding her bits of mussell and cockle which I have rubbed with my fingers. She seems to be able to eat it by sucking it in and then spitting in out again, which is very messy ( so I can see me upping her water changes to twice weekly) but she does seem to be able to get some food into her tummy that way, She doesn't seem to be able to eat blood worms or daphnia or brine shrimp, although she did manage a piece of snail that I crushed for her.
I have bought her some vitamins too.
Apart from waiting and hoping her top teeth grow back soon, is there anything else I can do to help her?????
I am feeling pretty bad right now that in trying to help her, I have caused her this problem and will do anything I can to help her be able to eat properly again!!!
I don't think I will be making a career in puffer dentistry anyway!!!
Thanks for any ideas
Sue