Well there’s a first for everything... tang glued her mouth shut

[Katepete722]

So yesterday after feeding a mysis cube, I noted my yellow tang had a white, shrimp shaped something sticking out of her mouth. I assumed she had grabbed an overly large chunk o shrimp and it had gotten lodged. I made a few attempts to catch her yesterday unsuccessfully. This morning I noted the white thing in her mouth still, she was breathing heavily and hiding. It occurred to me while looking at her that I was glueing frags down yesterday and I began to suspect that she had tried to eat a chunk of super glue before it dried.

Well after an hour of getting stung by corals, I finally caught her! Lo and behold, the super glue had glued her mouth shut. I swabbed the area with iodine, removed the glue with tweezers and swabbed again.

Unfortunately, she is in tough shape. She was fairly skinny to begin with and I’m worried that 24 hours of stress and starvation might do her in. Right now I’ve got her in a floating breeder box with some Nori. She ate spirulina flakes when I dropped them in but she is not going for the Nori. Is there anything else I can do for her? Selcon soaked pellets maybe? Would a dip of some sort be beneficial? Should I leave her in the breeder box for a little bit or release her back into the tank? I unfortunately do not have access to a hospital tank.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

I think your treatment will get her moving again. If she can eat she will likely bounce back just fine. Watch for infections.

 

[Cole.mormon]

selcon soaked pellets are worth a try
keep feeding nori and veggie flakes as often as she will accept them
can you post some pics pls

 

[Katepete722]

It’s been about two weeks and she is doing great so far. Putting some weight on! Here is a not great picture of her with a mouth full of glue!

 

[greetl01]

It’s been about two weeks and she is doing great so far. Putting some weight on! Here is a not great picture of her with a mouth full of glue!

I just want you to know that I scrolled down to make sure she was ok b4 I LMAOOOO. Fish are hilarious. Glad she perked up

 

[Katepete722]

I just want you to know that I scrolled down to make sure she was ok b4 I LMAOOOO. Fish are hilarious. Glad she perked up

This is absolutely the most ridiculous thing that a fish had done in the 20 years I’ve been keeping fish! Also, now she’s worth about 5 times as much as when I bought her, so I’d like her to not try and kill herself!