Gonna clip teeth soon - any tips I should know?

[Deadeye]

Finally got some clove oil and cuticle clippers - so now it’s a matter of finding the time to clip my puffers’ teeth.
Just figured I’d come here for some questions first.
1. When dosing clove oil, should I dose directly to the holding container for the puffers, or in a separate container that I move them into for sedation?
2. Is there a specific drop per gallon ratio for sedation, or is it just go one drop at a time until it falls asleep?
3. When I’m all done, how should I go about cleaning the oil out of their gills? Would taking a turkey baster and blowing fresh water into the gills suffice?

Any other tips I should know?
Thanks all!

 

[FahakaPapa]

Watching... I've never done it but am interested in the answers you get to the questions you asked. My puffer is 11.5 years old and her beak stays nice and trimmed because of the foods I feed. She also has a couple rocks in the tank that she bites every other day lol.

What kind of puffer are you doing this for? And how old, etc? I'm curious to know how long it takes a beak to overgrow.

 

[Deadeye]

Forgot to mention, it’s Amazon puffers I’m doing it for. They are notorious for their fast growing beaks. I’ve had them since April, they are about 2 inches now (were 1 inch when I got them…slow growers).

 

[Fat Homer]

The exact dosing you’ll need to look up as i forgot exactly how much you need need per gallon…

but as for the process;

1) have 2 containers ready, one with the clove oil + water and one with just clean water…

2) place a single puffer in there for around 2-5min until they seem sleepy, make sure not to keep them in there too long as it can cause damage…

3) once the puffer is ready, use a net and hold the puffer in the net with your hand to avoid directly touching the puffer with your hand and clip the puffers teeth…

4) As soon as you finished cutting the teeth, quickly place the puffer in the clean water container to recover, which may take up to 10min or so, then once recovered place back into the main tank…

5) If you see any clove oil floating in the clean water container, rinse it out and repeat the above steps till you’ve clipped all your puffers teeth…

and thats pretty much the whole process as far as i can remember…

anyway, good luck with the process and remember to take your time double checking everything??

 

[FLA]

Clove oil has doses, I can't remember them. I haven't used it in years I moved to MS-222. I would add drops to sedation tank until they get sleepy. There is no "clearing" anesthetics just put the fish in clean water with some aeration and it will wake up on it's own. You aren't knocking them completely out there will be some respiration going on and they will work it out on their own. Osmosis will do most of the work for them. I always just kept enough snails around and didn't need to clip beaks.

 

[Deadeye]

Thank you!
Would I need to rinse any potential oil off of the gills or will that happen on its own in freshwater? I was told that the main cause for damage form clove oil comes from some oil staying in the gills.

 

[xenacanth9]

Be real careful with that clove oil, that stuff can put down fish damn well

 

[Randles]

Yes please be careful as its used to euthanise sick fish etc. Ive had to do this in the past, never been happy about it but its just one of those things where you have to put the animals quality of life first. So yeah careful with the dosage and the amount of time you leave him in the solution. Good luck with it Im sure it will work out fine.

 

[phreeflow]

I’ve done this before just as Fat Homer mentioned. Can’t remember dosage either as it’s been a while but it’s stressful.

However, I’ve seen people just clip their Amazon Puffer’s teeth without anesthetics at all. They hold the puffer in the net with the fish still in the water, stick the mouth out of the water, and do a quick clip. The puffers seemed fined and swam right off

 

[Deadeye]

I’ve done this before just as Fat Homer mentioned. Can’t remember dosage either as it’s been a while but it’s stressful.

However, I’ve seen people just clip their Amazon Puffer’s teeth without anesthetics at all. They hold the puffer in the net with the fish still in the water, stick the mouth out of the water, and do a quick clip. The puffers seemed fined and swam right off

I had thought about doing it without anesthesia, but am too worried they would move at the last second and I’d miss. I feel like I’d have to get good at clipping with anesthesia before I can try without.