Clownfish help!

[jamiegould174]

Hi all,

Hope this the right place to post. We’ve had our aquarium up and running for some time now, over the past few days we’ve noticed one of our clownfish constantly have its mouth open. (I mean, constantly). He seems to be struggling to eat too.

In our tank we have 2 cleaner shrimp, some hermits and a total of two clownfish. Who all, apart from the clown in question, are fine! Levels of the rank read positively. There is also some starfish that snuck in on the live rock and what we believe is a bristle worm. Although we’ve only seen this wriggle out of there rock once.

I’ll attach a photo. (Sorry, it looks like it’s been taken on a potato)

Any help is appreciated.

Thank you

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

#fishmedic

 

[Uncle99]

Bite on mouth from other clown?
One male one female right?

Not much in the post so just a guess based on that they were all doing well in a tank which has run for some time and then, boom, this shows up quickly, with no impact on others.

Maybe a vid would shed more data…

 

[Sharkbait19]

It’s possible it dislocated its jaw fighting the other clown - sometimes it fixes itself but otherwise would require manual fixation, which isn’t easy on a fish that small.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

It could be a dislocated jaw, or it could be breathing so fast that it doesn’t have time to close its mouth. Can you post a video? That might allow me to tell you which it is.
Jay

 

[jamiegould174]

Hi all, thank you for your replies.

I’ll attach a video. They’re both young clowns, so I’m not sure if they established their genders in the pair yet. They came from the same tank and we asks for one larger than the other to assist pairing.

 

[jamiegould174]

 

[jamiegould174]

It could be a dislocated jaw, or it could be breathing so fast that it doesn’t have time to close its mouth. Can you post a video? That might allow me to tell you which it is.
Jay

Bite on mouth from other clown?
One male one female right?

Not much in the post so just a guess based on that they were all doing well in a tank which has run for some time and then, boom, this shows up quickly, with no impact on others.

Maybe a vid would shed more data…

thank you for your replies, I’ve tried to add a video but not sure if it works??

 

[Uncle99]

I can’t see any video, only ones posted on You tube, but others can on their systems.

 

[jamiegould174]

I can’t see any video, only ones posted on You tube, but others can on their systems.

I’ve attached some screenshots from the video, does this provide any further information?

 

[Uncle99]

What happens when you drop food?

 

[jamiegould174]

What happens when you drop food?

They will approach the food but not eat. The other clown eats well.

 

[Uncle99]

That’s not good of course as time becomes a problem.
Several reasons, distended mouth after biting a stinging coral, irritated by a parasite or injury making it uncomfortable to close.

I can’t see the vide but maybe others can……

@Jay Hemdal

 

[jamiegould174]

That’s not good of course as time becomes a problem.
Several reasons, distended mouth after biting a stinging coral, irritated by a parasite or injury making it uncomfortable to close.

I can’t see the vide but maybe others can……

@Jay Hemdal

That’s not good of course as time becomes a problem.
Several reasons, distended mouth after biting a stinging coral, irritated by a parasite or injury making it uncomfortable to close.

I can’t see the vide but maybe others can……

@Jay Hemdal

Does this help?

I really appreciate your help!

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Does this help?

I really appreciate your help!

That does look like jaw damage, it is not open due to rapid breathing, so at least we can rule that out.

Trouble is - there is no "fix" for mechanical damage in a fish like this, surgery is not an option of course.

Jay

 

[Uncle99]

Unfortunately there’s not much you can do in this case.
Sometimes these things correct themselves, sometimes not.

Maintain environment, feed tank normally.