False Percula Clown - Mouth Open

[03sonicstang]

Good evening forum. I posted this in the clown fish forum but I want to cover all my bases......

I just just noticed today my Female FP Clown fish mouth is stuck open. She's still eating and swimming normal. I've had her for (3) years now and nothing like this has even happened and I'm freaking out! This is the scenario:

raised in a 12 ga for about 2.5 years

moved 4 months ago to 180 Gallon. Tanks been running for approximately (7) months to date

Always had a Frog Spawn with her in tank for the past (3) years

Added a very young male FP Clown and Clown goby about a week ago...the clowns took to each other very nicely, will little to no aggression.

the Young male and goby were in quartine for about 4 weeks; no signs of disease.

I've seen the Goby laying in the Flog spawn and the large female gets mad and chases him or her off.......could the goby be stressing the clown? Its like a quarter of her size!!!

Let me know anyone's thoughts....its really stressing me out!

.026 salinity taken with a refractometer
0 NO3
0 PO4
Mag 1200
Alk 11-12
PH 8.2
temp 77-79

Thanks Tom

[03sonicstang]

My camera skills are really bad but here are a couple:

[tubntxawg]

Hey buddy,
There maybe one or more reasons for the clownfish to have its mouth in this position.
If the area is irritated from parasitic attack, the fish may find it uncomfortable to close its mouth.

There is a possible physical damage (injury) to the mouth area.
There is a possible hyperextension condition in the fish.

To further investigate a parasitic condition I'd need to know if the fish is having any difficulty breathing and
does it have a white lip?

An injury would cause swelling and when the swelling goes down the mouth will return to normal.

If the condition is one of jaw hyperextension then there are two ways forward:
- do nothing and hope it returns to normal in a few days;
-- anesthetize the fish and manipulate the urohyal bone which has jammed into the cleithra.
-- I can explain in more detail how to perform the latter treatment.

If the fish is having difficulty in breathing, it could die from the condition.
Usually a parasitic attack affects breathing, so if the fish breathing normally,
it reduces the likelihood of parasites.

Unfortunately, certain cases of jaw hyperextension can also place the gills into a position where they will not function properly,
causing respiratory stress (rapid breathing), that can lead to death.

In general, there is a 50/50 chance things will return to normal providing the fish is still eating and getting the proper and best nutrition.
80% of the remaining cases, the fish is helped by manipulating the urohyal bone.
The balance (20% of the remaining cases) the fish is helped with a treatment by an antibiotic.

Let me know if this helps...

[03sonicstang]

Hi tubntxawg; while you post helps very much, it scares the heck out of me. Thank you for you input

This morning her month is closed approximately 50% from last night...so we're going in the right direction. She's been fighting off the Clown Goby so that might have something to do with it. If there's more tension between them, the goby is going back into the 12 gallon nano! Might be just an injury

Hoping its not jaw hyper-extension as any mini surgery does not sound like something i can do.....

I dont think its a parasitic infection as she's breathing normal and eating like a horse.

What stinks is I'm going out of town this weekend....hopefully a quiet house will aid in her recovery.....

thanks again Tom

[tubntxawg]

Glad to hear that she doing much better...
keep us updated if something was to arise...

[03sonicstang]

tubntxawg, I just want to say thanks for your support!

I'm glad to report she is back to 100% Normal. Her mouth kept getting progressively better. In fact she's back to attacking my hand while maintaining the tank!

Thanks again for your support! Tom