PUFFER help

Denbf58

New member
have a porcupine puffer that is about 3 year old within the last week it has not been eating. his diet is been frozen krill and calm strips . I thought it might be the frozen food getting stall but tonight i tried live clams from the super market and he still is not eating any ideas has any one that has had puffer ran across this if so what worked for you.:uhoh2:
 
a couple possibilities

check water parameters out of whack water can cause puffers to stop eating

could be lock jaw as krill has been rumored to be linked to lockjaw in puffers

aggression from a tank mate

there are probably other things to check but iam no puffer expert and iam still on my 1st cup of coffee this am so my mind is not functioning yet
 
How are his teeth? If they get too long, the fish won't be able to open his mouth enough to eat.
 
there are two major issues here. first, krill is a very poor diet for puffers and has no nutritions. it has been reported and studied that feeding a krill-intensive diet causes a "lock jaw" condition, where the puffer cannot open and close its jaws anymore. the end result is the puffer dying from starvation.

i am not sure what "clam strip" is but it does not sound like a proper diet either.

second, there does not seem to be shelled food being fed to the puffer. puffer's teeth continuously grow and need food with hard shells to grind down the teeth, otherwise they will be overgrown and cannot eat anymore. if your puffer has overgrown teeth, you will need to manually trim them or clip them with nail clippers.

please do more research on proper puffer food; they should be fed with marine-based food such as clams, mussels, shrimps, squid, scallops, etc. i highly suspect your puffer has the lock jaw condition, and you will need to force feed him now with the proper food soaked in vitamin supplements, and hopefully over time the lock jaw will reverse.
 
I had no idea about lock jaw as for teeth it i don't see them i will go to store and get some shrimp and mussels thanks for all the responces
 
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