Help! My puffer can't open his mouth

S

Suzanne Costa

New Fish
#1
Oct 1, 2004
4
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0
New Jersey
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#1
Hi Everyone,

I need some help really bad. My Dog face Puffer can't open his mouth. It started suddenly 3 days ago. He's so hungry! The poor thing looks at the krill , wants so badly to eat it and can't open his mouth. It's so sad. I'm slowly watching him starve to death. Please somebody help me, please. What could this be? How do I cure it? He wants to eat, but he just can't open his mouth. I'm watching him slowly starve to death. Help, please.

Suzy
 

1979camaro

1979camaro

Ultimate Fish
#2
Oct 22, 2002
5,862
2
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42
San Ramon, CA
#2
doe she look injured in any way? has he maybe run into the glass or something? i dont have any idea about what you could do......but he should be able to survive for a couple weeks so perhaps the problem will resolve itself
 

S

Suzanne Costa

New Fish
#5
Oct 1, 2004
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New Jersey
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#5
Thank you 1979 camaro and wayne,

Puffy is not injured. I went online at work yesterday and found the website Wayne mentioned. On it I found 2 people who had the same problem and one was telling the other of a way to anesthesize the puffer, trim his teeth with a cuticle cutter and that did the trick. Apparently because in captivity they are not breaking open shells with their teeth to get at their food their teeth over grow and can cause them not to open and they slowly starve to death. I'm leary about doing it but I feel I have no choice. Puffy is going on 1 week without food and he's so hungry. It involves oil of clove with tank water in coolwhip container about 1 liter big. When fish is out trim teeth then put in another container with fresh tank water, he wakes up and all is well. I'm nervous, but I have no choice - you guys ever hear of this?
 

S.Reef

S.Reef

Superstar Fish
#7
Dec 1, 2003
1,830
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Michigan
#7
Yup..was about to talk about teeth. Its a little late now but make sure you have corals and rocks that it can knaw at. Hard shelled crustacians arent a bad idea either.
 

S

Suzanne Costa

New Fish
#8
Oct 1, 2004
4
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New Jersey
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#8
Thank you Lotus and S. Reef,

I've had rocks in the tank just so he would knaw, but he doesn't. The hard shelled crustacians is definitely what I'm going to feed him from now on. I'm going to try and trim his teeth this weekend and put him to sleep with the clove oil. I hope he wakes up again, but it's either try or watch him slowly starve to death. I could never see anyone or thing starve to death without trying to help - it is after all a life. Wish me luck you guys, I'm scared, but I have to try to save Puffy. I'll let you know what happens - thanks for caring, wish me luck
 

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wayne

Elite Fish
#10
Oct 22, 2002
4,077
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#10
Be careful and don't overdose. Good luck. Ask on reefcentral or somewhere if there's someone local to you who's done this before to help
 

S

Suzanne Costa

New Fish
#11
Oct 1, 2004
4
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0
New Jersey
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#11
Thanks everyone,

It is now 9:00PM Wednesday night. I work for a dentist. The tank we have is a 90 gallon in the office. He has had salt water tanks since he was a boy. We are going to do this together; he offered to help me do it tomorrow night (Thursday). He does a lot of surgery, has a good eye and good hands. He has a headset he wears that magnifies like the surgeons use when doing micro surgery. We have decided to do the anesthesia slowly so as not to overdose; a little at a time to see how Puffy reacts. I don't mind telling you that I'm not very religious but, I always say a little prayer when faced with something scary- it seems to help. Thanks Wayne for the idea regarding reef central, I'll definitely do that tonight. All of our patients love Puffy and it amazes me how they are all so concerned. Thanks you guys for the kind words it means more than you know. I'll give you the heads-up on how it went. Thanks again everyone for your kindness.
 

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