golden puffer on hunger strike

[n.son29]

It is now day 7 and counting that my golden puffer has not eaten. I had tried everything from scallops to clams, squid to octupus. The only thing that it will eat is frozen krill...to which I heard could cause lock jaw.
does anyone have any success with other methods of getting the puffer to transition out of frozen krill?

 

[JustinReef]

Yes Krill should only be a treat. Its kind of like candy for fish.

One thing to try is soaking the other foods in with the krill over night to get that krill taste all over them. If that does not work, try soaking in garlic, they usually like the smell/taste.

If soaking the food in stuff does not work, try putting some prawn on a feeding stick and actually rubbing it on his mouth. I got to the point with my porc that I had to push it quite hard against his mouth and he eventually got fed up and bite at it. I think it was more out of frustration than wanting to eat but he realized it was good. A few more days of the stick and then he ate no problem.

Is this a new puffer? Have you only had him 7 days now? Do you know what he was fed before you got him?

And also check to be sure his teeth are not over grown and his jaw is working fine. It will be quite noticeable if he has lockjaw.

If none of this works, you may have to tube feed him but in that case, I would say something is really wrong and that is A LOT of work. I had to do that once for a puffer with lock jaw (LFS rescue) and it was a real pain. Eventually the lockjaw got better but it took a while.

Hopefully he will eat for you soon. Just be persistent and really "bug" him with the food until he bites.

Good luck!

 

[n.son29]

Thanks for the info. It is not a new fish. It has been in the tank for over 7 months now. I bought it from Liveaquaria Diver's Den. Not sure what was fed to it during the holding period at Liveaquaria.
For the past 7 months, I have tried every possible shelf fish with no success. I have tried soaking everything with garlic solutions but it refused to eat. It only like frozen krill.
I am going to try to soak scallops with frozen krill as you had suggested. Hopefully, this will get it to eat.
Again, thank you for your suggestions.

 

[JustinReef]

So he has only had krill for 7 months? If so, he probably does not feel too good and could be getting lock jaw.

 

[LisaD]

Have you tried any live food, like ghost shrimp?

 

[bluedevils32701]

do you have any pics of the fish? also try some live oysters from the store. just crack them open for him....my golden puffers love them!

 

[elecbzerk]

I have a golden puffer that did the same thing for a couple of weeks when I first brought him home. I tried everything. He ended up eating silversides that were garlic soaked. I also think the silver color attracts him. Now he wil not even touch krill when I offer it to him. Justin told me to try clams and mussels as well, he still will not touch them at all.

 

[JustinReef]

Hmmmm...You guys have found some very picky puffers! I personally have never had a problem feeding any new puffer besides porcupines. For some reason I have found them to be a little picky but Im surprised at the goldens being so picky. Although with yours n.son29, I think the problem is he is so used to krill and only krill that it will be hard to get him on anything else and he may have lockjaw.

Can he open his mouth properly?

 

[reefergeorge]

If he will only eat krill. I would feed him just enough to keep him alive while trying other foods everyday. My porc loves clams. I would remove the clam from the shell, and just feed the meat.
Make sure to soak what he does eat in a good vitamin supplement, and fat supplement. Vita-chem, and selcon are my favorites.