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schambers
 
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Sylvania Township, Ohio
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I took my Green Spotted Puffer to the veterinarian last week to get its teeth trimmed. It looks like this is going to be a twice a year procedure. We went to Dr. Tim Reichard. He used to be at the zoo, you may remember the controversy over his firing. He's now at the Bird and Exotic Pet Wellness Center. He's partners with Dr. Susan Orosz. She's birds, he's exotic pets. Here is the web site (just a page, really.)
http://www.birdexoticpetvets.com/
I'd read enough about GSP's to know that it might need its teeth trimmed someday, most puffers are like squirrels and beavers - their teeth just keep growing. When its teeth got huge and it quit eating snails I knew it was time. I tried to do it myself, but I couldn't do it. Those teeth are hard! And they are attached to a fish that is little and soft and I didn't want to squish by rough handling! The fish was only an inch and a half long, if it was that big.
I called Dr. Reichard's office, and the lady who answered the phone said something like, "You want what?" with disbelief in her voice. "I'll have to ask Dr. Reichard and get back to you." He called me back and said, "You want me to do what? What makes you think we need to do this?" I explained, and he said he'd research it and get back to me. He did research it, and got back to me and I took the fish in.
I was really impressed with him. He was interested and eager to learn more. The first time I went in he had another vet visiting, I've forgotten his name, but Dr. Reichard introduced him as his mentor. It took all three of us to do the job. Dr. Reichard mixed up some anesthesia to calm the fish. Then I held the fish, Dr. Reichard ran the power tools, and his mentor held the fish's mouth open. He made a tool out of a long wooden swab to pry the mouth open. Dr. Reichard tried a couple of different power tools and bits to find the right one. It took about an hour and a half.
I was convinced that the fish would die after I got it home, but it didn't. It took a couple of days to recover, though. Then it was fine until a few weeks ago when it quit eating snails again. I put it off a while, because it's expensive, but we went last week.
This time we had it down to a science. We only had to use the anesthesia once and it took half the time it did the first time. The fish was eating that evening, although it did have quite a bit of bruising to its tummy.
I know that in the wild, the puffers eat things that grind their teeth down. Dr. Reichard's mentor told me that he went scuba diving along a reef and he could hear the triggerfish (? do I remember that right?) chewing on the reef. That must have been cool. I feed the puffer lots of snails, but it doesn't chew the shells. It just grabs the meat and pulls it out of the shell. I'll have to keep looking for chewy stuff to feed it.
If you want to take your fish to the veterinarian, I'd recommend Dr. Reichard. (He said that he had a couple of bettas in the week before I was in.) The Bird and Exotic Pet Wellness Center is a cool place.
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North American Native Fishes Association forum
If you were to make little fishes talk, they would talk like whales. - Oliver Goldsmith |
hc8719
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1600
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wow, are you serious? that's cool we have an exotic vet like that.
glad the puffers ok
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"Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission" -Neil Kendall
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Burks
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Cool story! Glad you found a vet who would take his time to research this.
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 E-mail: nygburks@yahoo.com AIM Name: NYG Burks
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Aquatic Aquaman
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Who would of known that you need to take your fish in to the dentist. I wonder if Spotted Puffer's ever get cavities! 
I wonder if there is something you could put into the tank that he would chew on so you didn't have to bring him in all the time.
Just out of curiosity how much does he charge you to work on his teeth?
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schambers
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It is $90 or $100, depending on whether he sends a topical medication home with me. So I'd *really* like to find something for it to chew on! There ought to be something out there.
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North American Native Fishes Association forum
If you were to make little fishes talk, they would talk like whales. - Oliver Goldsmith |
Aquatic Aquaman
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schambers said :
It is $90 or $100, depending on whether he sends a topical medication home with me. So I'd *really* like to find something for it to chew on! There ought to be something out there.
 It's cheaper for me to get my teeth fixed then your fishes.
They should have a dental plan for Puffers.
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Toledo Reef Aquarium Club Web Administrator
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schambers
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Aquatic Aquaman said :
It's cheaper for me to get my teeth fixed then your fishes.
They should have a dental plan for Puffers. The rest of that day, I wondered how I could get the fish put on our dental plan as a dependant . . .
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North American Native Fishes Association forum
If you were to make little fishes talk, they would talk like whales. - Oliver Goldsmith |
AnnArborBuck
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Could you try a dremel with a diamond wheel
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9 out of 10 voices in my head told me to do it.
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Aquatic Aquaman
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AnnArborBuck said :
Could you try a dremel with a diamond wheel
That sounds a bit to dangerous to me!
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Toledo Reef Aquarium Club Web Administrator
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schambers
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Actually he does use a dremel, and I think he uses a diamond bit. He uses a cone shaped bit, not a wheel. It is dangerous! The person holding the mouth open is also in charge of keeping the lips out of the way.
I went there the first time determined to learn how to do it myself, but I'd changed my mind about that by the time I left.
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North American Native Fishes Association forum
If you were to make little fishes talk, they would talk like whales. - Oliver Goldsmith |