Clownfish Mouth Stuck Open

[kriswd40]

I have two clown fish which I've had for a few years, a wrasse, and a few damsels. I also have a pencil urchin, bubble anemone, snails, and hermit crabs. Starting yesterday, the larger of my two clownfish cannot seem to close his mouth and he just swims near the top of the tank, looking up as if he wants food. When I feed the fish, he goes toward the food some, then changes his mind and swims away. Any thoughts on what is wrong with him and how I can resolve it before he starves to death? All my other fish appear to be healthy and the one having issues was fine up until yesterday. I did a water change (like I always do) a a day or two before that so I'd expect the water quality should be pretty good right now and if there were issues with it, I'd expect to see more than one fish affected. Other than the open mouth and constantly swimming at the top of the tank, he doesn't look any different than normal.

I'm planning to stop by the pet store on my way home from work today and pickup any remedies that might help make him better.

 

[beth]

Do you have large pebble substrate in your tank? Is the fish breathing rapidly mouth open?

 

[kriswd40]

He seems to be breathing normally.

I have small gravel on the bottom of the tank and then large live rock pieces.

 

[beth]

Gravel? Substrate used in fresh water tanks? Saltwater tanks should be set up with ocean substrates such as sand. The clown may have a pebble lodged. Can you post a good digital picture?

 

[kriswd40]

It's whatever you want to call the saltwater stuff. Sand, gravel, it's all the same idea.

I can try and post a picture later but I'm at work now. His mouth's just open, there isn't really much else to it.

 

[zoidberg01]

It could be that if you changed the water he got frightened and hit himself or the fish damsels are aggressive and wrasses like to bully fish smaller than them

 

[beth]

If you can get a decent digital picture up, that may be helpful.

 

[kriswd40]

I couldn't get a very good picture because he wouldn't hold still (the glass distorted my picture some too)... it's a good sign that he's moving around so much at least, even though he doesn't appear to be eating still and still has a wide open mouth.

 

[zoidberg01]

I think is that he fractured it by fighting or crashing with the walls

 

[beth]

Yea, not a detailed enough picture to tell much. If you do not note any other ailments with this fish, such as gasping, reddening around gills, ragged fins, etc., then he has an injured, perhaps dislodged jaw or even have something lodged in his mouth. What do you normally feed the fish?

In any event, not much you can do but hope that the situation self-heals.

 

[kriswd40]

Normally I feed the fish flake food. I think I'm going to try some frozen shrimp today and see if he will go after that because he doesn't seem interested in the flakes.
I tried putting him in a small holding tank to isolate him from the others so that I could leave him some food the other fish wouldn't eat but he flipped out when I did that and started swimming into the walls so I decided that was doing more harm than good. After I let him out, he seemed weak and was getting blown around by the power heads. He also seemed to be a little crooked in his orientation when swimming. I turned the power heads off for a bit to let him relax and he seems to have stabilized now but I'm very concerned he's not going to make it much longer if he doesn't start eating and getting better soon. At this point though, I really don't have any ideas what I can do to help

 

[beth]

I agree. It does not sound good. Once a fish starts floating around the tank it usually means the end is near. He must have either injured that jaw or has something lodged in the mouth.