Chromis Lockjaw

[nluchau]

Help. All fish were fine yesterday and now this morning this chromis saw a ghost and this is what he's looked like all morning.

Any ideas what could be wrong? I'm feeding pellets, formula 1, aquadine, and sheet algae.

Today he ate brine shrimp ok but obviously just sucked them in so Im guessing hes not choking.

Tank is 75 gallon

Levels
Ph: 8.0
Nitrite: 0.0
Nitrate: 5.0
Ammonia: 0.00

 

[edwing206]

get nitrate as low a possible cause it's pretty high unless you mean 0.5 which i think it is still kinda high

 

[nluchau]

Im using the Saltwater master test kit. Its the second to lowest reading on there. I dont think this is high at all.

 

[nluchau]

Anyone?????????

The chromis ate brine shrimp last night but his mouth is still open wide.He doesnt seem in pain at all though.

 

[krafty]

Do yours seem to be breathing really fast? I started with six and am down to four. When a fish is about to die I have noticed that he will begin to get really shy and not eat hardly at all. I the one that appears to be sick at the moment is breathing really fast but his mouth looks a like in the photo above. The others appear to be fine.

 

[nluchau]

No actually hes breathing fine. Swimming and eating fine also. Just this weird thing happened where he cant close his mouth.

 

[nluchau]

Heres a pic of what he looks like tonight. It seems as though his mouth is closing a bit compared to the first pic.

Dont mind the hair algae - Im working on it

 

[KingDiamond]

I have seen this happen to a number of fish. It is caused by a small "dorsal plate" that is part of the fishes mouth becoming distended. Usually, it returns to normal on its own but I have had to physically apply pressure to one end of the "plate" to make it return to its normal position.

Brad

 

[nluchau]

Brad;

Any reason why this would happen in the first place? Its out about half as much as it was a few days ago now. Im hoping by the end of the week he will be fine.

Id hate to physically try something...

 

[KingDiamond]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8459438#post8459438 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by nluchau
Brad;

Any reason why this would happen in the first place? Its out about half as much as it was a few days ago now. Im hoping by the end of the week he will be fine.

Id hate to physically try something...

It is kind of like someone hyperextending their knee except the joints in the fishes mouth can actually get stuck As to why it happened, it is usually physical "damage" (fighting with another fish, running into something from being scared). I see this happen to freshwater cichlids a lot. The last fish I experienced was a coral beauty angel. It was in my quarintine tank by its self, so it probably was from running into the side of the tank because it was a bare tank.

Brad

 

[nluchau]

So hopefully without doing anything it will close on its own? How often have you seen it where it wont close on its own?

 

[nluchau]

Brad;

I just took another pic and here's what he looks like now.

Compared to the older pics I posted its much much better.

 

[KingDiamond]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8459802#post8459802 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by nluchau
So hopefully without doing anything it will close on its own? How often have you seen it where it wont close on its own?

I can only think of one case that I ended up euthanizing a fish because of "lockjaw". Two cases that I physically intervened and in one of those cases the fish never really looked completally "normal". Good look! I have my fingers crossed for you.

Brad

 

[bchristie]

The condition is known as jaw hyperextension, it is most common in fishes that feed on aufwuchs (algal turfs and their associated microfauna), and is caused by the locking of a bone called the urohyal into the cleithra, it may be easily resolved without damage by anesthetizing the fish with MS-222 or benzocaine (the home hobbyist might employ alka-seltzer, sodium bicarb, or CO2) and using a fine, blunt tipped probe to gently depress the urohyal from the INSIDE of the jaw, this "unlocks" the jaw. If the jaw is pushed back from the outside one or both of the cleithra may fracture, resulting in a possibly life-long deformation. Hope this helps

 

[nluchau]

Good news! The chromis is back to normal 100%.

Thank you for all the replies including Brad and Bchristie.

You gave me very helpful information.