Fish with lockjaw, any suggestions?

[Donna Cucheran]

Hey all, my first post is a doozy...

Someone dropped of a sick fish at my LFS and just left. It is a 6 - 7 inch Jack Dempsey with lockjaw! The water it was brought in with was gross, slimy and very high in ammonia and all the other baddies. The LFS kept it for 3 weeks and now I am fostering it, until my daughter the Cichlid expert comes to get it. His/her color is starting to come back, and s/he's a fighter. What I am wondering is, how do I feed a fish who can't move a mouth that's stuck wide open? I currently have him in a 10G hospital tank by himself. I would love to be able to close his mouth, but can't really get near him yet. I hope he just has a dislocation that can be fixed, 'cause he's a beauty, and I want him to live a long and healthy pain free life.

Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[nguyendetecting]

I don't have much advice but I've read on some cichlid forums that if it stay open for more than a few days that it's probably going to stay like that pernamately. I've read some threads that state that it happens to their fish all the time. So I don't really have an answer for you but it looks like you have 2 options leave him/her alone and keep an eye out on water conditions Or try to push her jaw back, which I think is crazy but I've read some people have done it. I wish you the best and it's good that you're trying to save a fish in need.

 

[jm1212]

if it cannot eat then, it may be time to put it down. it sounds like it got the bad end of a fight.

then again, blood parrots cannot move their mouths and they eat fine. it may be more difficult for the JD though.

 

[Donna Cucheran]

I don't think there was a fight involved, all the fins are in pristene condition, there are no other marks on him at all, the head of the fish dept. at the store thinks he just opened his mouth to try eat something too big and dislocated his jaw. They said he's been eating flakes just fine, I haven't seen him eat yet, but I've only had him for about 24 hours now. Shoud I just drop the flakes in as normal or soften them and shoot them near his mouth with a droper? I dunno. How much should he eat?

It's kinda weird, you can see down into his belly, I'm gonna see if I can get a good pic.

 

[wataugachicken]

all cichlids have two sets of jaws. an outer pair (the mouth itself) that holds food and an inner pair that actually chews the food. this is called the pharyngeal jaw. this is why all those poor blood parrots with stuck mouths are not a big deal. it's the same as if you met a person with no lips. creepy? yes. but they can still eat just fine, it might be messier though because they can't hold the food in place. the JD should be able to pull food in through water movement and then once it is in his mouth he can chew it.

 

[247Plants]

Wow...learn something new everyday!

 

[jpappy789]

all cichlids have two sets of jaws. an outer pair (the mouth itself) that holds food and an inner pair that actually chews the food. this is called the pharyngeal jaw. this is why all those poor blood parrots with stuck mouths are not a big deal. it's the same as if you met a person with no lips. creepy? yes. but they can still eat just fine, it might be messier though because they can't hold the food in place. the JD should be able to pull food in through water movement and then once it is in his mouth he can chew it.

very interesting!:grinyes: