The Puffer Forum

I need to do some dentistry on one of my F8's and I read another thread mentioning a product called Tranquil which may be better than clove oil. Does any one know where I can buy some?

Also, in the article in the library on puffer dentistry, it mentions that using clove oil, after a little while the puffer will turn upside down and look dead, and then you are ready to trim the teeth. Does that still happen exactly the same way with Tranquil? Is it safe to remove the fish from the water for the trimming?

I'm just afraid of using the Tranquil and having my fish not be anesthetized enough (or too much?), because it doesn't act the same way as the clove oil, if that's the case.

Kelly (Puffer Queen) is most familiar with this drug. Maybe she'll see this & answer. I have only used clove oil. The reason for using any tranq is so you can take it out of the water for the procedure & not have it struggle or puff with air.

I've used Tranquil before to anesthetize my puffers for force feeding when they were sick. I definitely recommend it over clove oil, which I have also used. With clove oil, you add the oil, the fish is swimming, gets slower and then all of a sudden starts floating toward the top of the water and then goes upside down. Its kind of unnerving. We used it I think 2 times. The first time was uneventful and our puffer came out of it fine. The second time it took longer for him to go under and it took a REALLY long time for him to come out of it (like the first time we used it he woke up in like 1 min after putting him in fresh saltwater, the second time (same dosage) it took like 5-10 min) we thought we had killed him but he finally came around. After that we decided we didn't want to use clove oil anymore. WIth tranquil, the fish never went belly up, he was just swimming, then he got slower and slower and then went over onto its side. Thats when we decided it was anesthetized. We force fed him, put him in fresh water and he woke up in I think like 10-15 min but they say to expect that.

The thing that I like about Tranquil is that the fish keep breathing. WIth clove oil they stop and you can take them out of the water, but that is unnerving to me since their body isn't getting oxygen. WIth the tranquil they continue to breath but that does mean you need to keep their gills submerged. you can probably have someone hold him with just his mouth out of water if you feel you need both hands to work on his teeth.

Tranquil is available from National Fish Pharmaceuticals at : http://www.fishyfarmacy.com

Good luck

Wow, thank you, gella81! That helps me a lot! I think this inforomation should be posted in the Library as either a note on the teeth-trimming article or there should be a specific article about the various methods for anesthetizing fish. I'm sure I'm not the only one who is scared to try it because they're not sure what to expect.

Ok, I finally managed to trim a tiny bit off of the top beak, but he's still very beaky, I coudn't get the bottom one at all. It took two times of putting him under (with a couple days between the tries). The first time, I waited too long and he was already coming out of it, so I couldn't clip.

The problem I had both times was that he never fully went under. His fins were going the whole time and he was trying to struggle and bite. I was way too afraid to try and pull back the lip to clip closer with him still moving. Also the beak seemed pretty hard, whenever I tried to clip, instead of clipping, it would just push the beak right out of the clippers. Of course, I was trying to make pretty small clips.

These are the cuticle nippers I got-
http://www.sallybeauty.com/shop/208/208312

Is this normal? I used 1/4 tsp for a half-gallon. The dosage on the bottle has 1/2 tsp for 1 gallon.

Is it safe to keep putting him under every weekend until I finally manage to get his beak to normal?

I'll try at least a couple of more times, but if I can't do it, is there anyone in Houston, TX that would be willing to do it for me?

We will be adding more info about Tranquil (and the other brand names the drug is sold under) to the library, its just something only recently available to the general public (before you had to go to a vet to get MS222).

I haven't used it yet myself, so I don't know how it works, although everything I've read gives the impression it is more safe and easier to use than Clove Oil. Thanks for letting us know your experiences.

BTW, you can also order it from http://www.DrsFosterSmith.com, but they sell it under a different brand name currently, Finquil.