Chocolate cichlids mouth

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Aaronv26

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 22, 2016
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Hello I have had this chocolate cichlid 3 days now and yesterday evening I found the fish with its mouth in this position. It’s acting normal maybe a little more shy than before but it ate this morning but it’s mouth will not move from that position. Does anybody know what is happening here?




9CA874BD-1366-44C7-9CA8-32C70389848F.jpeg 57E9022C-12B6-425F-BAD7-F7BD20D8654B.jpeg
 
Has that look of Duck lips. Get some kanaplex and furan2. Salt 1 tsp per g. Ask duanes duanes his opinion on it. Keep the water clean.
 
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Oh man... what luck:duh: Would be nice if the LFS I purchased from supplied the medication ill need to save him.
 
Yes that is advanced duck lips, hope you quarantined it before putting it in the main tank
The gram negative bacterial disease is highly communicable, and often very lethal, and hard to get rid of, once in. (it can survive dormant in dried mud for years, and as soon as water is added reinfect any fish in a tank) It is especially virulent in water with a temp above 82'F, so the old adage about raising temp to help cure it, is just the opposite of what to do.
After I had it hit one of my tanks, I euthanized all fish in the tank, drained and disinfected it with bleach before filling it again.
here is a Mayaheros beanii with the disease.

and a link with info
dreaded flexibacter - the koi keeperswww.thekoikeepers.com/koihealth/dreadedflexi.html
 
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duanes said:
Yes that is advanced duck lips, hope you quarantined it before putting it in the main tank
The gram negative bacterial disease is highly communicable, and often very lethal, and hard to get rid of, once in. (it can survive dormant in dried mud for years, and as soon as water is added reinfect any fish in a tank) It is especially virulent in water with a temp above 82'F, so the old adage about raising temp to help cure it, is just the opposite of what to do.
After I had it hit one of my tanks, I euthanized all fish in the tank, drained and disinfected it with bleach before filling it again.
here is a Mayaheros beanii with the disease.
Click to expand...


I just have my main tank and this was the first and only fish In there. Would you recommend euthanasia at this point then? Would it be a helpless cause trying to treat?
 
Some people are successful using a strong antibiotic able to kill Gram-negative bacteria.
I was "never successful" treating it, so rather than take a chance of it spreading to other fish, I tended to euthanize.
Being it is your only fish, it is reasonable to try to treat, if the disease is very advanced, it usually kills within a few days, so you won't need long to wait to know, if its working or not.
If you do treat, and it dies, "I" wouId add a gallon of bleach to the tank letting it sterilize filters, media, everything the fish had come into contact with, before adding any new fish.
When duck lips begins it is sometimes not obvious, the fish hovers in one area, doesn't eat, often color up brightly, but the stress of capture and moving to a new tank can bring on the atrophy in the jaw very quickly as it spreads.
Your LFS may not have noticed the symptoms, they may have have been very subtle.
Note the only slight projection of the jaw in the shot below.
 
One other thing, chocolate cichlids normally come from highly acidic, low pH (4-5) waters rich in tannins.
The tannins are anti-bacterial in nature.
If your tap water is hard and mineral rich, this would be very stressful to a fish of this type, and make it easily susceptible to invasion of these type bacteria.
What is your tap waters pH, alkalinity, andnhardness level?
You can usually find these parameters on your water providers web site, if you don't have a test kit.
 
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duanes said:
Some people are successful using a strong antibiotic able to kill Gram-negative bacteria.
I was "never successful" treating it, so rather than take a chance of it spreading to other fish, I tended to euthanize.
Being it is your only fish, it is reasonable to try to treat, if the disease is very advanced, it usually kills within a few days, so you won't need long to wait to know, if its working or not.
If you do treat, and it dies, "I" wouId add a gallon of bleach to the tank letting it sterilize filters, media, everything the fish had come into contact with, before adding any new fish.
When duck lips begins it is sometimes not obvious, the fish hovers in one area, doesn't eat, often color up brightly, but the stress of capture and moving to a new tank can bring on the atrophy in the jaw very quickly as it spreads.
Your LFS may not have noticed the symptoms, they may have have been very subtle.
Note the only slight projection of the jaw in the shot below.
Click to expand...

Okay. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and replying so quickly.
 
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