How Do I Know If I Need To Cut My Puffers Teeth

[puffer 2008]

hi i was wondeirng if i can tell by looking at my puffer if he needs his teeth cutting i am not quite sure if he is eating or not as he use to hand feed from me but now he prefers to eat form the bottom of the tank i did a 50% water chance yesterday but he seems to have gone off eating while i am there but can not be sure if he is eating when i have gone as i leave the food in for 10 min after i have left then go back and remove any un eaten food and shells i feed him a wide vairty of food from shripms to whole prawns coclks out of shells mullels in shells to lance fish and blood worm i have tried giving him a muscell closed up so that he has to ware his teeth down but he does not want to know and just leaves it ( lazy bugger) is there anything you can suggest to give him that will help him ware his teeth down ias i dont relly want to do teeth cutting if i can help it by what i feed him or should i stun him with clove oil and just check his teeth anyway he is very placid and lets me storke him and cup him in my hands and information is appreciated cheers

 

[geo7x]

what kind of puffer is it?

 

[puffer 2008]

sorry should have said in orignal post he is a topaz puffer 4- inches big

 

[Mr._Fishy]

It will depend on the diet, my uncle's only needed it maybe once every year to year and a half. If you see the puffer having trouble eating or its jaws stuck open, you know it is time to cut them. For smaller puffers, a pair of those scissors that are used to cut dog nails are good, for larger ones, a dremel works the best.

Ryan

 

[DarkEntity]

It will depend on the diet, my uncle's only needed it maybe once every year to year and a half. If you see the puffer having trouble eating or its jaws stuck open, you know it is time to cut them. For smaller puffers, a pair of those scissors that are used to cut dog nails are good, for larger ones, a dremel works the best.

Ryan

scissors

a file will do the job just fine. I dont think id ever use scissors, the risk of slipping or cutting too far is too high.

hi i was wondeirng if i can tell by looking at my puffer if he needs his teeth cutting i am not quite sure if he is eating or not as he use to hand feed from me but now he prefers to eat form the bottom of the tank i did a 50% water chance yesterday but he seems to have gone off eating while i am there but can not be sure if he is eating when i have gone as i leave the food in for 10 min after i have left then go back and remove any un eaten food and shells i feed him a wide vairty of food from shripms to whole prawns coclks out of shells mullels in shells to lance fish and blood worm i have tried giving him a muscell closed up so that he has to ware his teeth down but he does not want to know and just leaves it ( lazy bugger) is there anything you can suggest to give him that will help him ware his teeth down ias i dont relly want to do teeth cutting if i can help it by what i feed him or should i stun him with clove oil and just check his teeth anyway he is very placid and lets me storke him and cup him in my hands and information is appreciated cheers

Topaz Puffer, im assuming you mean Tetraodon Fluviatilis, the brackish Puffer? If you are feeding hard foods its unlikely itll ever need teeth triiming. If though you never feed hard foods then see if it can close its mouth, if the answer is no, then its time to think about it.

 

[Mr._Fishy]

The scissors that I was referring to were these: Clippers

 

[puffer 2008]

ok kool well he can open his mouth and close it so i dont think it is his teeth i think he might possible have a bcterial infection as upon observing him his breething is rather heavy and his fins are clamped to his body so gona go to my lfs tomoz and get some mella fix to treat him just hope he is ok i hate seeing him when he is down in the dumps i have done another small water change for the time been so will treat him tomoz

 

[Mr._Fishy]

Just FYI, puffers and other scaleless fish can be rather sensitive to meds, so you might want to reduce the dosage. Hope all goes well.

Ryan

 

[puffer 2008]

well for the time being i have used some mythlin blue i have used this before on him when he damaged his eye and he coped with it ok i have just put one pepet in which treats one gallon of water wont do much i know but it will probably kill off any parasites in the water and i will put half the dosage in that it recomends for my tank of melfix

 

[DarkEntity]

are you keeping him in brackish water of fresh?

 

[puffer 2008]

he is in a barckish tank

 

[Straydum]

i do recall there's a pinned topic linking to an article on teeth cutting, thought more than often my memory fails me

 

[puffer 2008]

well i got up this mornig to find my topaz floating on the top of the tank he did not make it thru the night i i am well gutted i have run tests on the water and everything is as it sould be so my only conclusion is that he had a nasty bacterial infection that has got the better of him i am gonna leave the tank for a while to make sure any infcetions or nastys that could be lurking in the tank have been killed off then i will purches some more but i feel i did quite well as i have read a few articles on topaz puffers and they are one of the hardest puffers to keep all though i am disapointed there is no point on dewlling on it just learn from the infomation i oave found out from this experiance and learn from it thank you lads for all the infomation you have given me much appricated cheers phil