please help!!! my neon can't close his mouth!

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!!!

 

Ok???? ... ???

Maybe there is something stuck inside his mouth that you can't see?

 

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.

 

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

 

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

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

 

I don't 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 don't think you should poke him with a toothpick.

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

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

 

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

 

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.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

ick that's black?

hmmm I'll see if I can find anything.

Name: BLACK SPOT

Symptoms:
# Small black speckles on body
# Flickering
# Small black smudges on fish <------
# Scratching against surfaces
# Very irritated


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.

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

 

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.

 

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

Thanks for the info, Kayin.

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

good luck

Matt

 

what disease????

 

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.

 

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 a lot better than when it was stuck.

 

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.

 

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?

 

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

 

I'm really sorry... omg I feel so guilty.... I just couldnt think of anything better :'( NExt time I won't say anything unless I know for a fact that it will work... (so angry at myself and ashamed....)

Human ignorance, once again, proves to be more dangerous than it seems...

 

Eve

Oh come on now, that's just ridiculous! That pour fish was going to starve to death! It was his only chance to live. I personally think that it was very brave of you to even try to fix his jaw. You did the morally correct thing.

 

I agree with John.

Evelyn, i'm sorry you lost him, it really was a quicker death than he was looking at.

Alessa, please don't feel bad.

 

Oh yeah, Lucy is wright Alessa, it was the most humane option that you suggested. If I was in a situation where I was either going to have a long suffering death, or a chance at being cured, but also a chance of dying a quick death, I would opt for the chance of being healed.

Actually, I was in that situation and took the chance of being healed, so I'm not just talking the talk.

 

I'm really sorry... omg I feel so guilty.... I just couldnt think of anything better :'( NExt time I won't say anything unless I know for a fact that it will work... (so angry at myself and ashamed....)

Human ignorance, once again, proves to be more dangerous than it seems...

don't worry about it. I gave it a try and I bet that if I wouldn't have killed him like that he would've starved to death so this at least was faster for him. after he was dead I was trying to see if there was something stuck in his mouth and that was terrible cuz I like riped his skin and the gills were exposed ewww.........
good thing he was dead already.

thanks for all the help anyways EVERYBODY!!!
i'm having the funeral tonight in case someone wants to know LOL!!! he's going in my big plant where my other fish are resting in paece.

 

I think you should be proud of yourself for trying to save him....

 

I was going to post again now saying, the moving the jaw thing is easier said than done but I'm so upset to hear the news!
You done the best you could, you should feel proud and brave for the choice you made the right desicion!

 

It's hard not to feel guilty about something like that, but as many others have already said, you did the right thing in trying to help him the best you knew.

Starving to death... or even if he could have eaten, living with his mouth in what was most likely a uncomfortable (if not downright painful) position... would be a very bad way to go.

 

Oh yeah, Lucy is wright Alessa, it was the most humane option that you suggested. If I was in a situation where I was either going to have a long suffering death, or a chance at being cured, but also a chance of dying a quick death, I would opt for the chance of being healed.

Actually, I was in that situation and took the chance of being healed, so I'm not just talking the talk.

The MOST humane way would be to quarantine him and then euthanize him, but that would only be after you were sure you couldn't cure him, so you did the right thing.

 

My neon did the same thing with his jaw - sadly he didn't last as long as yours.

(I think if I was to see this again, I would euth if it didn't get better after a day or two.)

you should get a floating quarantine box / breeding trap - that way, if you spot a sick / injured small fish - yuo can isolate him, but keep him in his usual tank - that way you can quickyly + regularly check / feed him without having to hunt for him first!

Just a thought and what I do.

 

yeah, I have one as well, they are around 10 bucks or so, and just sit on the inside of your tank, sure my betta was miserable in it, but he was that much happier when he was let out =P

much more effective then putting them in a completely other tank, (unless your medicating them.) because all the water parameters are the same.