while feeding my fish today i noticed that my puffer wasnt eating normally. he wanted the food but could not fit it in his mouth. he ate a normal amout but it seemed very difficult for him. He gets fed every other day. i know its not an overgrown beak. his beak looks normal and it definitely seemed to be that he cant open his jaws. i am also convinced that its lockaw because his diet mainly consists of frozen krill as it is all he will eat. if im lucky i can sneak in a silverside. he is a porcupine puffer, about 7 inches big. he lives in a 120 gallon tank with 65 gallon sump. i have had him for two years.
the current tank parameters are:
0ppm ammnia
0ppm nitrite
5ppm nitrate
8.4 ph
1.023 salinity
i have recently been adding a liquid vitamin made by seachem to the food to help get rid of some ich which is completely gone now. apparently this vitamin didnt help much for lockjaw though so any vitamin recommendations would be appreciated. Does iodine really help or is that a myth? i have been reading about force feeding which i am willing to do but need some more info on it first. what is the best food or mix that i can force feed through a tube or syringe?
Thanks for any help!
need help for porcupine puffer with lockjaw
Forum rules
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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fishologist43
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2011 4:20 pm
- Location (country): united states
-
PolishPuff
- Mbu Puffer
- Posts: 1212
- Joined: Mon Oct 26, 2009 1:20 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: ________
Also cared for;
Fahaka------------------- Had to give it away
Auriglobus modestus-----Traded
Auriglobus silus ---------Died during transport.
Figure Eight Puffers -----Sold and or traded
Dwarf Puffers ------------Traded
Congo Puffer ------------Traded
South American Puffers -Traded
Carinotetraodon lorteti --Died under my supervision :( - Location (country): USA-Chicago, IL
- Location: Chicago, IL
Re: need help for porcupine puffer with lockjaw
"Lost time is never found again" Benjamin Franklin
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goldielocke76
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 878
- Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2011 7:19 pm
- Location (country): California, USA
Re: need help for porcupine puffer with lockjaw
They had already read it, and PP told the OP to start a new thread in the hospital....If it were me, I would re read that thread until I had it memorized, then try ReefYeti's method. Also, I was advised to get Selcon as well as Vita Chem by SYN. I think Vita Chem does not have all the vitamins that Puffs need. Also, once you get him better, I would definitely go with another diet. Sorry, HTH a little bit
5.5g: Pond snails
5.5g: Red Cherry Shrimp and Rams
10g: PZ the Pee Wee (DP), Ghost shrimp, Otos x3
36g: Luau the F8, Zebra nerites x8, sometimes a herd of ghost shrimp for food
60g: Perches the starry blenny, 1 watchman goby Snaps the l.c. hermit, 2 emerald crabs, 1 red crab, 2 turbos, 7 asteas, 2 nerites, 2 clown gobies and 2 firefish gobies (upgrading to a 90 gallon reef)
RIP Yoshi, you are dearly missed <3
5.5g: Red Cherry Shrimp and Rams
10g: PZ the Pee Wee (DP), Ghost shrimp, Otos x3
36g: Luau the F8, Zebra nerites x8, sometimes a herd of ghost shrimp for food
60g: Perches the starry blenny, 1 watchman goby Snaps the l.c. hermit, 2 emerald crabs, 1 red crab, 2 turbos, 7 asteas, 2 nerites, 2 clown gobies and 2 firefish gobies (upgrading to a 90 gallon reef)
RIP Yoshi, you are dearly missed <3