Anyone know why hippo tang's mouth stuck" open...infection?

[fishykid9212]

I noticed a week ago my hippo tang's mouth was staying in a slightly open position and now it's definitely more open. When I put food in there he does not try to eat like usual.

He also seems to have spotty areas on him which look like HLLE but this seems to have progressed over 2 weeks. It looks like HLLE but with my experience I do not think HLLE can come on that quickly. It is also on more than one side and now in the typical HLLE areas.

Sorry for the terrible pics it took me forever to get one somewhat decent which shows it (he actually looks much worse in the photo).

He did have ich which comes and goes otherwise healthy and I wasn't sure if these "spotty areas" are from my cleaner shrimp? I also didn't see him rubbing against anything. I plan to quarantine all the fish+ let the tank sit fallow, but this is holding me back for now. I want him to eat normally first assuming it can be treated.


I have researched this and have read dislocated jaw and infection. Hoping it is not a dislocated jaw is it worth trying to treat for an infection to cover all bases but I have no idea what to treat for that might cause the jaw to stay open? Again sorry the photo quality is so bad... thanks for the input!

 

[HumbleFish]

A distended mouth can sometimes occur if a fish tries to eat a bristleworm or comes into contact with a stinging coral. Another possibility is Lympho or some other growth inside the mouth. Or physical trauma, but that should have subsided by now.

 

[WVfishguy]

This fish may have swollen tongue, which I believe is a systemic bacterial infection. I've seen this before. You might google it.

How old is this fish?

I have a theory (actually, just an idea) that when hippos grow to adulthood, their nutritional requirements change dramatically. Without the nutrients it needs, they develop a plethora if illnesses.

More than once, I've had hippos do well for years, get large, suddenly develop HLLE, go blind and/or degenerate in general.

A friend of mine had his hippo in a reef tank for years, then one day it went nuts and consumed all the inverts it could. Destroyed a very nice reef display almost overnight.

I kept hippos in customer tanks which were all FOWLER. They got a very good diet of food I made, which had a LOT of ingredients, both protein and plant based. It worked very well on all the other fish. But it did not contain sponges, corals or other inverts.

My idea, based on the above anecdotes, is that when hippos reach a certain point, they become obligate coralivores, i.e. they must eat certain inverts or perish, much like many butterfly fish or angelfish.

If anyone has seen similar occurrences with hippo tangs, I'd like to know.

 

[Joe0813]

my watchmen goby had a lump on his jaw but he died within three days of the lump appearing. the day before he died he started swimming in circles at the top of the tank and acting strange