Evelyn1919

ok so i was just looking in my tank and one of my neon tetras looks so funny. so i went closer and i saw that it has it's mouth open and it just is not closing it at all!!!
what is wrong with him?

please help!!!

Alessa

Ok? ...

Maybe there is something stuck inside his mouth that you cant see?

Evelyn1919

well then i'm not sure. all i know is that he's just not closing his mouth at all and his skin looks like he's got some black slime on it. i have no idea what it is but he looks pretty sick to me. what can i do?
i'm at the moment doing a water change and will add stress coat.

MinxMermaid

yeah, you may have to take him out and open his little gill with a tiny toothpick and push out whatever is stuck there

Evelyn1919

oh please no!!! what if i kill him? i can't do that!!!

rileyrk190

I dont think something is stuck. I have seen this before at a pet store, i think its something else. Hopefully someone else can help you. But for now, i dont think you should poke him with a toothpick.

rileyrk190

i read somewhere that fish get lockjaw. The information was a bit vague, though and it didnt tell how to treat it.

Lucy

It wouldn't hurt to take a closer look at his mouth to make sure something isn't stuck. I've seen it happen with goldfish and yes, I used a toothpick. lol
Neons are so much smaller though.

angelfish220

I've had a zebra danio lose its jaw and I would feed it powder fry food. It lived for about 6 months till it died, I'm pretty sure of old age, as I had it for about 2 years then.

rileyrk190

oh, i didnt know they really get stuff stuck! Thanks, Lucy

Lucy

No problem, I agree though, unless it's apparent something is stuck, I would go poking it.

Evelyn1919

well i took a close look at it and there is nothing stuck in his mouth. all i see is him not being able to close his mouth. even if there was something stuck in his mouth i don't think i could go pocking him around.
i'm just going to leave him in the tank and we'll see what happens.
thanks for all the help though.
i'll check him back in the morning and i'll let you guys know.

gn.

Lucy

I hope he'll be ok and yes, please let us know.

BigJoe

just throwin it out there... with the black slime it could be black ick maybe

Lucy

I forgot she mentioned black slime. What's black ick?

Kayin1470

ick that's black?




hmmm I'll see if I can find anything.

Kayin1470

Name: BLACK SPOT


Symptoms:
# Small black speckles on body
# Flickering
# Small black smudges on fish <------
# Scratching against surfaces
# Very irritated
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Black Spot General Description
A disease caused by the larvae of parasitic digenetic flukes, Cercaria and Metacercaria. A common disease in earthen bottom ponds and lakes, this disease is caused by a parasite (larval trematode) that burrows into the skin of a fish causing the formation of a cyst approximately one millimeter in diameter. This parasite has a complex life cycle that requires fish eating birds or mammals, snails, and fish at different stages in order to survive.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In general, even heavy infestations of these parasites do relatively little damage to the fish. There is some evidence that heavily infested juvenile fish may experience excessive blood loss, physiological stress, and even death. Also, fish with heavy infestations on the eyes may be blinded.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The term "Black Spot" refers to the formation of small cysts in the muscle and skin around which the parasite lives. The cyst accumulates black pigment cells. These cause little harm to the fish. Young fish have growth problems if heavily infected. The first intermediate host is a mollusc. The fish is the second intermediate host and the final host is a kingfisher or heron.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Black Spot Treatments

Black spot is generally easy to cure. There are a number of commercially available treatments and preventatives.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Black Spot Prevention

Be careful when adding new fish. Black Spot, or diplopstomiasis, often follows the addition of new aquarium fish. All fish are susceptible, especially the Silver Dollar and Piranha. It is fairly easy to diagnose and treat



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Kayin1470

this is all that I could find.... but if none of the other symptoms are there, then do not treat the fish for it.

Evelyn1919

well i woke up late today and had no time to make sure he was still there. i was looking at the tank for like 5mins but had to run out of my house. i didn't even see him. i only saw 5neons in the tank and all the other fish.
i'll check back when i get home later today.

i'm not sure about the black ick stuff. maybe but i'm not 100% sure.
i'll see if i can find him later and i'll keep you guys posted.

thanks for all the help.

Lucy

Thanks for the info, Kayin.

Evelyn, I hope he's doing ok and you just didn't see him right away.

Evelyn1919

Lucy, I hope so too. I don't wanna go home and find a dead neon.

Kayin1470

Yes, but keep hope, it's all we have until you get home.

Evelyn1919

ok so last night i got home and the neon was still alive. not closing his mouth but still alive. last night i did a 30% water change and added stress coat and this morning before i left my house to go to work the neon was still alive.
last night when i was feeding them he was trying to eat but he couldn't and finally after 3 times of trying he gave up.
if the jaw thing doesn't kill him i think he'll starve to death.
so so so sad

theyellowdartmti

If it looks like he has some sort of spreadable disease, you may want to try quarantining him.

good luck

Matt

Evelyn1919

what disease?

Lucy

Matt's saying something is wrong with your neon, he could have some sort of illness. Or maybe he hurt himself.
I have no idea why his mouth won't close.
I wonder if he could get some food if he didn't have to compete with the other fish.

platy ben

I once had a neon that was the same as this, i picked him out of the net and gently pushed his jaw in every direction and afterwards he could move it,not perfectly, but alot better than when it was stuck.

Alessa

I thought of doing the same... it might sound harsh to do someting like that but it is better than letting him starve to death...

I hope he gets better.

Kayin1470

hmm, I'm trying to think of possible scenarios in which his jaw was hit and popped out of place, *and open* possibly your filter pushed him into a wall?

Evelyn1919

ok guys so last night i went and tried to fix my neon's jaw and killed him!!! he's in fish heaven now and doing much better i bet.
i'm never going to try to do something like that again because i just made it worst