My pike's mouth is stuck open.

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M

Mystus Redtail

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Jun 8, 2007
2,154
3
68
Fishing in Wisconsin
I got up to find my belly crawler had attempted to eat a bush fish this morning. I tried to free the bush fish, but to no avail. I had to leave for work, and now 8 hours later when I got home the fish was still in his mouth. This time I was a little more persuasive and I got the fish carcase out.

I put the pike back in the tank, and it seems that he cannot close his mouth. I took him out one more time and closed it for him, but it opened back up again and it seems that he cannot close it at all by himself.

Is there anything I can do? I added stress coat, I figured that it couldn't hurt. Will this problem fix itself, or is he doomed to die a rather horrible death?

Thanks in advance.

-matt
 
I had a similar experience with a knifefish. His jaw had actually come apart where the upper and lower meet. The upper jaw was sticking out. I layed him on a wet rag and performed surgery! I just placed the end of his jaw back in place and wallah:) He was fine and was eating again that afternoon.

Sorry to not be of help but look closely to see if any jaw bones are out of whack.


Jamie
 
my ctenopoma had this problem but he fixed by him self hope your pike solves it by him self
 
killerfish;1722474; said:
my ctenopoma had this problem but he fixed by him self hope your pike solves it by him self
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me too, he's hiding under a decoration right now breathing kinda hard, I'm not sure whether to let him be for a while or take some sort of action.
 
Give him two more days and see what happens. He should have a pretty good reserve, so he won't starve to death...;).

My snooks do that all the time. Their bellies are bigger than their mouths, so they are constantly over extending their mouths. It normally takes about two to four days before its back to 'normal'. ;)
 
Thanks peanut, I was hoping you'd weigh in and that's what I was hoping to hear, I will keep you guys posted. Anyone else, please go ahead and leave suggestions. I really like this pike even as P/O'd as I am that he took the bush fish's life. But ultimately it is my fault for putting them together.
 
Eh, just restating what everyone else has already pointed out/suggested...;).

I know it sucks when a fish you care about does something stupid and injures itself. I had a lenticulata that was determined to eat my baby TSN. It was a bugger to get those spines out of the jaw. Lost the cat, but luckily after about five days the lent was doing better, and within two weeks you couldn't even tell something had happened. They are very resiliant fish, so don't sweat it too much just yet. ;)
 
He probably just has a sore mouth. Give him some time. The fact that you were able to close his mouth for him, likely means everything is in place. I'd probably boost the temp just in case there was any damage to the inside of it's mouth. Mouth fungus is never good.
 
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