Chromis with a mouth problem

[LobsterOfJustice]

Hey all,

I posted this in the disease treatment section too, but thought it might get more exposure here.

I woke up this morning and noticed something wrong with my blue/green chromis's mouth. It looks like the top half of it is stuck open (prodruding). You know how they kind of push their mouth out of their face when grabbing food? The top part is stuck pushed out.

He is otherwise healthy, active, and pursuing food. It looked like he grabbed a few flakes, but also missed a few. The tank is a 37g, tankmates are a black ocellaris, a standard ocellaris, and a firefish. All coexist well, and nothing has been added to the tank in a few months.

So should this work itself out in time? Any ideas?

[BangkokMatt]

Can you see any white lumps like small cysts (sp) inside the mouth

[TXReefer21]

I would tell him to shut his mouth and go sit in the corner:lol: Sorry i couldnt help my self but you might look close and make sure theres no infections.


TX

[LobsterOfJustice]

It is still stuck as of this morning. There appears to be no cysts or infection.

[J. Montgomery]

I initially bought three chromis. One died the first night. Another developed the same mouth problem within the first few days and died within 24-48 hr of showing symptoms. The third one has survived for many months now.

How long has your chromis had this problem?

[KyleO]

I had several Chromis........and now have one. They died one by one with one of them displaying the same symptoms as you are describing here (looks like mouth was broken; open). Of all seven Chromis that died, that is the one I can't get out of my head because he ended up starving to death.

One is still alive and healthy and it turns out that he is the king of the hill......sad but true.

If I had to do it over again I would have pulled him out and ended it quickly rather than letting him die the long, slow death he did (about 5 days)

[LobsterOfJustice]

Yuck, sounds bleak.

This is the second day he has had this problem. He has been in the tank since 8/4. He actively chased food today but I'm not sure he was able to eat any. I might try to take him out and push it back in or something... sounds gross, but given the otherwise inevitable fate...

[JokerGirl]

It sounds like a dislocated jaw. If you can catch it, it can be GENTLY (I can't stress this enough) pushed back into place. I've done this on my Frontosa cichlids multiple times as they are prone to it as well.

[LobsterOfJustice]

I fixed itself on its own. After a day or two, I noticed he was eating, so I figured I'd wait on my intervention. After a few more days it looked better, the day after that it looked much better, and the day after that it looked perfectly fine.