niger trigger with jaw problem

[cubfan]

I've had a niger trigger for about a year now, and suddenly it appears that it cannot open its' mouth to eat. Has anyone ever experienced this before? I can get it to eat flakes, very small flakes, but it cannot eat anything else. HELP!! Also, it spends most of its' time hiding in the rocks, when its' normal behavior is swimming in the open water.
I have a 150 gallon tank with only the trigger, and a clown and mexican wrasse. The water parameters are fine. Thanks for any input.

 

[v-lioness]

What type of diet (all foods including greens) has your trigger been eating over the past year?
Are you soaking your foods in vitamins?
Kaye

 

[cubfan]

it has been eating krill, shrimp, flakes, algae strips. It has been doing great until just recently. It will approach food and attack it, but its' mouth just won't open wide enough to get anything other than small pieces of flakes.

 

[rslinger]

Have you been using any vitimans. It am need some iodine.

 

[v-lioness]

It sounds like Lockjaw, this is seen more in Lions and Puffers than triggers, it comes down to diet (Iodine Deficiency). A staple diet of anything will lead to health problems overtime, they need a variety of foods, Raw Shrimp with shell on, Crab, Scallops, a white fish such as Whiting, Octo, Squid and so on..... Along with the Greens and flake.
Many times there is enough Iodine in the water, through regular water changes.
Do you have a quarantine tank?
I would move the trigger to quarantine and add a Iodine Supplement to the water, many times this will work with lions and puffers. Hopefully overtime your trigger can start eating again. You can add it to the main tank also, I just recommend the quarantine because they are smaller tanks, and you do not want to overdose the main tank.
When dosing Iodine as any supplement, test, again, you do not want to overdose, I have used Salifert's Natural Iodine or Lugol's in the past, both are easy to use.
Kaye

 

[fishkiller]

Yeah and toss some pieces of pvc pipe in there to hide in. -less stress... And feed the hell out of him, even if it is flakes, but be careful not to leave food all over the tank, you don't overload the QT with food...