Lockjaw

[Jose]

Last year in October my porcupine puffer could not open it's mouth. It was healthy and active trying to open it's mouth to eat but was unsuccessful. Never experienced this so I had to do some research, and lockjaw best fit the symptoms. One issue that came up frequently was feeding foods with a lack in nutrients. This was my problem because its main diet was krill. So I went out and bought some Kent Zoe and marine C.
After my puffer got used to me trying to hand feed it, I would guide the food(already soaked in vitamins) in it's mouth. It would take many attempts for the food to be swallowed. At the time it would only attempt to eat krill and wouldn't bother anything else. After about 2 weeks I switched the food supplement to Selco Boost. Luckily I was having success feeding with my puffer allowing me to stuff the food in it's mouth. After 3 weeks using the Selco Boost, lockjaw was cured. I still soak the food with vitamins but the diet has changed. Another way to feed your fish is by taking it out the tank and force feeding it with a syringe.
There's another type of lockjaw where the mouth stays open. If force feeding with vitamins doesn't work, then some people have had success by slowly trying to close the jaw.

[barrettsline]

Jose, thank you for sharing this information. This is an interesting topic. Has your puffer since experienced this issue? Congratulations on the success you had with hand feeding it as well.


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[mnemenoi]

Thats wild, great job on finding a remedy! For our puffer we have a bag of frozen shrimp, pull a cup of tank water and toss one in. Add a few drops of FW Vita-Chem (they also sell a SW kind) and a bit of minced garlic. She loves it. Definitely something to consider with finicky feeders. We have added it to bloodworms as well to beef up its nutritional load a bit.

[ptran]

Cool. Learn something new everyday!

[morpheus]

i am a puffer novice, so i never head of lockjaw like this but its interesting. good job finding a cure.

when i got my pea puffers roy had recommended use of vita-chem. i put a cube of bloodworms in some tank water, add some vita-chem as they thaw and soak for maybe 20 minutes, then feed. fish seem very happy and healthy for past year now.

[Jose]

That's the first and only time my puffer has had lockjaw. The Selco boost that I use has garlic already mixed in. I bought some minced garlic and my clowns hated it. This not only happens to puffers, it can affect any species.