Maroon Clown is holding its mouth open? Please Help!

[trojan9137]

Hello RC Members,

I did a major cleaning of my tank yesterday and noticed today that my Maroon Clown is holding its mouth open.

The cleaning was a 30 percent water change, removed all algea/growth from arcylic, removed detritus using powerhead/filter. I then added new Tropic Marine Pro-reef saltwater, brought calcium up to 410 using Tropic Marine Bio-Calcium, added appropriate dosage of lugols iodine, put appropriate kent marine tech magnesium. Thats about it. The supplements were added today and water change/algea clean done yesterday.

I have a male/female pair of Maroons. Here is the pic of the Maroon that is holding its mouth open.

Does anyone know what is going on here???

Any help would be great. I don't want to lose this cute clown, because it does the silliest things.

 

[1geo]

Does your clown exhibit any other symptoms, such as erratic swimming, going to the surface gasping for air, spots on the body, lesions on the body, rubbing against rocks, anything out of the norm?

 

[trojan9137]

That's the strange thing about it. I don't see anything out of the ordinary, with the exception of his mouth always being open? It seems like the little guy cant close it.

I've tested my water before and after the tank cleaning.

Before....
Temp: 75.5-76.8
PH: 8.2
NH3/NH4: Trace Amount
NO2: 0
Nitrate: 15
KH: 9


After....
Temp: 75.5-76.8
PH: 8.2
NH3/NH4: 0
NO2: 0
Nitrate: 10
KH: 9


So it looks like the nitrate is coming down (I usually run near zero). Also, the ammonia is corrected.

Just wanted to give the water quality data too; maybe it might help figure this thing out.

 

[trojan9137]

Here's a picture of the other Maroon. This is what the one who has its mouth open normally looks like.

 

[bob1968]

i think its lock jaw.my clown had it twice went away both times within a few days

 

[1geo]

In the absents of any other symptoms and if she is eating normally, I won't worry about it.

 

[trojan9137]

Just want to give an update on here. My maroon is still holding his mouth open??? But at least he seems like everything is still normal otherwise. We'll see what happens in time. I'll keep everyone up to date on develpments.

 

[jmann]

Is he eating, he has to close it to eat??? You said you got rid of the ammonia, fish can't handle much ammonia at all, it could be left over from that condition and should improve with time.