Puffer dentistry.....Some aquarists have attempted manually filing the teeth down, but this is most always very traumatic on the fish. With the help of Greg Bishop DVM, Kelly first began doing puffer dentistry using MS 222 (tricaine methanesulfonate) and a "Dremel" rotary tool, much like the instruments that dentists use on people. Their procedure was conducted as follows:
Make an anesthesia bath using MS-222 with enough aquarium water to obtain a concentration of 100 ppm. Note: to make this solution from a dry weight – 1 ppm equals 0.001 grams per liter. You can multiply the amount of bath water (in gallons) by 0.0038 [3.8 liters per gallon] to determine how many grams of MS-222 are needed here. Chemicals like MS-222 for aquatic husbandry may be obtained through your veterinarian or aquaculture supply companies like Argent Laboratories.
Place the Puffer in the bath for about 20-60 seconds to be anesthetized, then remove the puffer promptly to begin the dentistry. Use a stone cutting wheel blade (composite formed or diamond-tipped, like for cutting ceramic tile) to trim off the tip of the overgrown teeth. Then use a gentle grinding bit to file smooth the rough or uneven edges.
It may be necessary during the procedure to place the Puffer back into the MS-222 for additional durations of ten to thirty seconds if the fish begins to awaken, move, clench its jaws or bite you! You can trickle aquarium water on the gills (or through the towel cover) to make the surgery out of water a bit less stressful. The entire procedure should take less than a minute or two, though, with no harm to the fish.
Another option for piscine anesthesia is clove oil (Eugenol Usp: 4-Allyl-2-methoxyphenol). Dose and duration for this method, like other forms of anesthesia, is somewhat variable by weight of the animal and sensitivities by species and individual. A typical recommended dose, however, is 4 drops of clove oil per liter of water (about 15 drops per gallon) to make an anesthetic bath. NEVER dose clove oil directly in the aquarium! It is an effective anesthetic with short exposure, but works as an agent of euthanasia to fishes in extended baths. In a clove oil bath solution, fishes should respond within one minute typically. Weak or smaller fishes may require a lower dose (2 drops of clove oil per liter of water) for an extended period of time (up to five minutes) for anesthetic effect. Large or tolerant fishes may require a slightly stronger concentration. We do not recommend more than 5 drops of clove oil per liter of water to make this anesthetic, but you can add 5 ml of ethanol per liter bath water for improved results. Clove oil can be easily found at online pharmacies, laboratory supply houses, local drug and health food stores - often by the aforementioned trade name, Eugenol.
* Note: For small puffers, the use of a power tool may be awkward or too large. In such cases it may be acceptable to just use diagonal pliers (AKA "wire cutters") or cuticle clippers (Note: these are NOT the same as fingernail clippers… They are similar to miniature diagonal pliers) to snip off the tips of overgrown teeth quickly. Just avoid using such pliers on thick or large overgrown teeth.
Cutting/sawing (top) and grinding (bottom) Pufferfish teeth. Be sure to finish tooth edges cleanly to prevent rough edges or burrs from snaring food, nets, etc."
We strongly recommend having a second person on hand to help with the procedure. The need for assistance becomes quickly apparent for holding the specimen, prying apart the lips, using tools, and trickling water over the gills and body simultaneously at times.
Whichever anesthetic you choose, be sure to have a fresh bath bucket of clean aquarium water ready immediately after the procedure to allow for the aquatic patient to wake up slowly and without the risk of display inhabitants attacking their vulnerability. Place the puffer into the recovery vessel with a supporting hand under its abdomen to guide it into the water. The fish will generally resume swimming on its own within 90 seconds. You may want to add a dose of water conditioner with colloids to reduce the stress of handling. You could also add healthy dose of vitamins to the water to supplement the stressed fish.
Once alert and seemingly in full possession of its senses, return the fish back to the display, perhaps with the lights off for the rest of the day. Very soon afterwards, you will see the "patient" resume eating without difficulty and flashing a new "smile." While the fish dentistry is rather easy and effective, it would nonetheless be less stress on the keeper and the "patient" if such fishes were given a natural diet and habitat to reduce or eliminate the need for surgical action at all.
