humboldtfishfreak

I came home for lunch today and notice my mono sebae's mouth wide open. It stayed that way for about 40 minutes until I had to go back to work. Maybe it will be normal when I get home but has anyone had this experience before?

Tank Details: 125 G - 0 ammonia 0 nitrite >20 nitrate pH 7.5 Temp 76 weekly water changes - Est. 1 1/2 yrs now - lots of different tank mates, community

aquarist48

Hello Humboldt and Welcome to Fish Lore. I'm sorry to hear that your fish is having some problems. The only time any of my fish could not close their mouth was if they had a pebble/gravel stuck there. Also a time or two a piece of pellet food may have been too large and it took a while to get it down. I'm sure you'll get some more responses soon. I hope it's going to be alright. Keep us posted.
Ken

humboldtfishfreak

Thanks for the response Aquarist. He's a big guy, about 6 inches from dorsal to anal fin. Hopefully if it is a rock he can dislodge it. I don't think it's a pellet - last pellet feeding was yesterday around 4pm. He did face me so I took a flashlight and was able to peer into his mouth. Didn't see anything though.

aquarist48

Very strange...So it kinda looks like he yawned and never closed his mouth? Let's see what some others have to say. Just guessing here but some fishes teeth are actually down inside their throat. I'm not sure if this is the case with your fish though. Something could be lodged where you can't see it. Again I'm just guessing
Best wishes for your fish!
Ken (I know it's frustrating but hopefully you'll find out something soon or hopefully the fish will pass whatever the problem is)

Tony G.

Hello Welcome to Fishlore!

Could it be he had a show down with another fish and held eachother's lips? sometimes (not sure if the Monodactylus lip locks) but some cichlids bite eachotehrs lips for territorial reasons and they can injure their lips badly... Is there any way you could upload a picture of what he looks like? Im sure it would help...

humboldtfishfreak

I don't know if this picture will attached. Anyway the mono is still the same. I fed everyone and he wasn't interested. Usually he is the first one to the trough. I will call my LFS and talk to the owner - he is very knowledgeable.

Attached Images

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ABCDemily

Ooh, sorry to hear about your predicament!I've only seen this when my mum fed my guppies some pea, and didn't cut it small enough, and it was lodged in her mouth.

I hope he perks up.

And welcome to fishlore!

aquarist48

Best of luck and please keep us posted. Thank you for posting the photo. Best wishes coming your way!
Ken

humboldtfishfreak

I have continually been peering into his mouth and thought I saw something that looked like a plant rib lodged in there. I bought some clove oil to sedate him as I had made the decision to try and extract what ever I saw. Yesterday I did my weekly cleaning (love, love, love the python) and attempted to net him. OMG, monos are fast movers. When I finally was successful, he was amazingly calm, or tired in the net. So I gently opened his mouth and with the aid of the flashlight, saw nothing. Possibly all that darting around dislodged what ever it was. I have him now in the hospital tank (treating a GBR for popeye). His mouth is more normal looking, so I am keeping my fingers crossed. If he did have something iratating in there, I'm thinking that a dose of meds will prevent any infections. I also read online that ciclids' mouths can ratchet open and to open a little more to undo. Hopefully he will be ok. Sorry for the novel

iloveengl

We all love it when you give us all the details (we get really involved in each other's fish lives) so no worries about writing lots! I'm really glad your fish seems to be doing better and it's probably a good idea that your medicating a little in case the stuck item caused any small tears or something. Best of luck with recovery!

aquarist48

Hello humbolt. Sounds like you're doing the very best that you can. Hopefully he'll have a full recovery!
Ken

humboldtfishfreak

Update - I lost my big guy yesterday. He never regained his appetite but did not look thin. I thought about doing a necropsy, but probably wouldn't have known what I was looking at. I gave him a nice burial in my garden...circle of life. I just wanted to thank everyone for their opinions, comments and for just looking at this thread. This is really a very nice forum and everyone seems to genuinely care.

iloveengl

Dang, I'm sorry you lost him, humboldt. It sounds like you gave him a really nice burial. RIP big mono dude.

aquarist48

So sorry to hear about your loss. RIP.
Ken

CHoffman

I'm sorry you lost him, It sounds like you did everything possible for him.