Fahaka puffer mouth issues

[Pdroid]

Hi all

I have finally gotten my dream fish after a 10 year wait. My Fahaka puffer Bumblebee came in  very small , but she has grown to 15cm so far. She ( I think its a she) is currently residing in a 200l tank while I wait for her custom 600l tank to get built. Water paramaters are perfect 0ppm nitrate , 0ppm nitrite , 0ppm amonia. 

I have also dewormed her when she was about 10cm just to make sure there were no internal parasites. 

Her diet consists of gut-loaded ramhorn snails , shrimp dosed with vitamins and bloodworms , occasionally she gets clams , but she does not seem to be a fan of them. 

My question to you all is regarding her mouth , I dont see her teeth and there seems to be a flesh like abscess in her mouth. This does not prevent her from eating , although she is taking way longer to eat her snails now because of this. 

Has anyone seen this before , is this normal , and does anyone have any suggestions on what I should do ?

Thanks very much in advance for any help you guys provide. 

 

 

 

 

[Colu]

It could be inflammation caused by a foreign body in her mouth or a bacterial infection am not that familiar with puffer maybe  @Cory or @mountaintoppufferkeeper have seen this before

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

On 11/19/2021 at 4:39 PM, Pdroid said:

Hi all

I have finally gotten my dream fish after a 10 year wait. My Fahaka puffer Bumblebee came in  very small , but she has grown to 15cm so far. She ( I think its a she) is currently residing in a 200l tank while I wait for her custom 600l tank to get built. Water paramaters are perfect 0ppm nitrate , 0ppm nitrite , 0ppm amonia. 

I have also dewormed her when she was about 10cm just to make sure there were no internal parasites. 

Her diet consists of gut-loaded ramhorn snails , shrimp dosed with vitamins and bloodworms , occasionally she gets clams , but she does not seem to be a fan of them. 

My question to you all is regarding her mouth , I dont see her teeth and there seems to be a flesh like abscess in her mouth. This does not prevent her from eating , although she is taking way longer to eat her snails now because of this. 

Has anyone seen this before , is this normal , and does anyone have any suggestions on what I should do ?

Thanks very much in advance for any help you guys provide. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

@ColuNever seen that before in any of my puffers I agree with your thoughts.

 @PdroidI have never seen it personally and I would guess not too common. I am guessing but would assume some sort of infection either viral or bacterial due to the swelling and  tooth loss.  If not caused by an injury maybe some sort of allergy? I imagine some individual fish could have allergies to some ingredients in some foods but am just assuming there. It is an odd condition.

If it happened to me I would probably change out the gut load i was running, the live and frozen food, and vitamins out, possibly do an antibacterial med, and document the process of whatever is happening as it improves.

I would stop the bloodworms for a bit just to see if that improves it. People are allergic to those maybe fish could be as well.

Without teeth, and if my puffer would eat it, I would try a very small amount of crushed snails for a "shelled food"  in a repashy mix along with a little fresh vitachem and slowly add in crushed oyster shell as their teeth returned to wear them properly. Kind of like a nutritional shake cube for a puffer that can be adjusted as needed. ( assuming she will eat it of course)

I defer to those who have seen this before but that was my best puffer keeper guess

[Pdroid]

Thanks very much for the reply everyone. 

Its very strange , she is still extremily active and playfull and a glutton lol 🙂 Just fed her her shrimp and she gobbles it all up. 

Ill continue to monitor , as long as she is eating and is happy I guess it will be ok , she has been like this for a couple of months. Wonder if she hurt herself somehow.