Melanurus Wrasse jaw issue, etc.

S.Pepper

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I've had my melanurus for about 6 months. I bought this fish from TSM Aquatics in Sewell, NJ, as i have all of the fish and inverts i have in my tank. All fish are quarantined before being sold by TSM--and they do an absolutely awesome job.

This wrasse has been the picture of health since i've had him.

Six days ago he emerged from the sand in the morning (as he always has done) and had sand stuck to his face--I had never seen this before. I didn't think a lot about it... especially with a fish that buries himself in the sand every night. With the first feeding of the day, he looked interested, but didn't eat. I also noticed that his mouth was open and wouldn't shut. I continued to monitor him, but for 2 days he didn't eat anything.
20201112_125636.jpg

Days 3 and 4 he ingested several small pieces of LRS Reef Frenzy, but still couldn't close his mouth.

Days 5 and 6 he hasn't eaten anything and last night he had some white stringy poop hanging from him. From what i've read up on this doesn't appear to be a problem and can happen would feeding shrimp/krill--which i do.




This morning when he got up, he again had a clump of sand stuck to his face. I fed him and he didn't eat. Otherwise he looks great and is swimming around the tank like normal; but obviously, if he doesn't eat he's going to have issues eventually.

Any thoughts?

I'll post some pictures in a few minutes. Thx!
 
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StlSalt

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I'm no expert on treating fish diseases, but I've read on here many times the white stringy poop means internal parasites. So I don't think you should write it off so quickly.
 

fishguy242

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hi,recently have been a few threads on locking jaw ,with the wrasse,try search,to find them :)
 
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S.Pepper

S.Pepper

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I'm no expert on treating fish diseases, but I've read on here many times the white stringy poop means internal parasites. So I don't think you should write it off so quickly.

Thanks! It's the first time i have seen it, but I'm going to continue to monitor.
 
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S.Pepper

S.Pepper

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hi,recently have been a few threads on locking jaw ,with the wrasse,try search,to find them :)


thanks, fishdude. yeah, I've read thru them. I guess i am going to wait and see what happens. As active as wrasses are it's amazing after 6 days, with as little as i've seen him eat, he's swimming around the tank like everything is good.
 

SaltyT

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Agree, sounds like your wrasse has an injured jaw or locked jaw. White stringy poop doesn’t always mean internal parasites, inadequate food intake can cause it. Glad he’s acting normal otherwise, just keep an eye on him and hopefully his mouth will heal up without further issue.
 

Jay Hemdal

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So - my first thought was also lockjaw. I've seen that happen in groupers, lionfish and wrasse. It often goes away by itself. However, I then looked at the video and saw the white stringy feces and relatively rapid breathing. I'm worried that there is something systemic going on here. That said, the stringy feces could be just mucus due to the lack of food, and the rapid breathing may just be from the fish not being able to breathe as effectively with its mouth stuck open. I see three options:

1) Leave it be and see if it gets better on its own.
2) Catch it up and try to manipulate the jaw closed (I've done this before on a serranus grouper)
3) Consider that it has an internal protozoal gut infection and move it to a treatment tank and treat with metronidazole.

Jay
 
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S.Pepper

S.Pepper

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So - my first thought was also lockjaw. I've seen that happen in groupers, lionfish and wrasse. It often goes away by itself. However, I then looked at the video and saw the white stringy feces and relatively rapid breathing. I'm worried that there is something systemic going on here. That said, the stringy feces could be just mucus due to the lack of food, and the rapid breathing may just be from the fish not being able to breathe as effectively with its mouth stuck open. I see three options:

1) Leave it be and see if it gets better on its own.
2) Catch it up and try to manipulate the jaw closed (I've done this before on a serranus grouper)
3) Consider that it has an internal parasite and move it to a treatment tank and treat with metronidazole.

Jay

Thx, Jay. I'm going with option 1 at this point. He still has strength and is swimming around the tank relatively normally. I'll go with the next phase in a couple of days if things get worse.
 
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S.Pepper

S.Pepper

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Welp, not looking good. My Melanurus is usually up by 11:30am and it's 3:15pm and haven't seen sight of him today. The first time this has happened since i bought him about 6 months ago. I know these fish can bury themselves for long periods of time, so i'll sit back and wait to see if he resurrects himself.
 
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