# RBP mouth hangs open



## kevinw424 (May 28, 2007)

Hey, so I've noticed that one of my reds keeps his mouth open. I found him like that two days ago and since I've pulled him out and tried to gently push the bottom jaw back up and it moves back but goes straight back to being open. Now when I say open I'm not talking about it just not being perfectly sealed, this fish has his mouth open as far as it can be. He's in a group of 10, 2.5-3 inch reds and I've had to get them off white fish lately and have them eating blood worms. He seems to be able to scoop some of the worms up and eat that way but I'm afraid hes gonna die from not being fed well enough or the other will pick him off. I dont think it could be anything with the params but I'll post them anyway.

ammonia-0
nitrite-0
nitrate-15ish
ph-7.8


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## eiji (Sep 16, 2006)

i dont hink it has something to do with your params, better post some pics sir...


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

sounds like a dislocated or broken jaw to me... i have heard or people trying to set the jaw if its dislocated, but watch your fingers!







if its broken, only time will tell if he is food or not...


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## kevinw424 (May 28, 2007)

heres a pic of him. His jaw doesnt ever move at all.


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## badforthesport (Jan 8, 2004)

Wow. good luck. i would take him out and put him in another tank just to make sure the others dont pick him off. also so he gets enough food. i would power feed him till he was healed. until then at least get some good shots of him. it looks kinda cool!









Good luck. let us know how it turns out.

Hey where are you located? Ill donate a 20 gallon for his recovery if your in socal and want to remove him.


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## Doktordet (Sep 22, 2006)

it could be the mouth membrane could be "folded" out the wrong way, so even if you tried to push it back in, it would still return to the open position. Try this: as you gently push the jaw back up, simultaneously push in the side mouth membrane using a toothpick's side (not the point).


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## bigredfish (Oct 11, 2004)

GOOD LUCK MAN


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## wally43 (Feb 23, 2007)

wow looks bad i hope he pulls thru good luck


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## kevinw424 (May 28, 2007)

Its been a couple of days now and I have my red in a hospital tank right now. His mouth is still open and I dont know if its going to get any better. I dont have a filter for that tank and all thats in it is a heater and an airstone. I am doing water changes every day. He doesnt seem to eat anymore though. I leave a cude of bloodworms in there for maybe 45 min and then I scoop everything back out and theres a lot to scoop out. I'm trying everything I can to keep this little guy alive. thank you all for your suggestions though. I tried pushing out his membrane but no luck with that. And thank you to badforthesport for the generous offer but I'm on the other side of the country from you in VA.


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## livelycorpse (Jan 22, 2007)

good luck with the p man!


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## MONGO  (Feb 7, 2006)

have you tried to close the jaw yourself? and possibly check for something lodged in there?.. If hes not eating and I doubt that he can you might as well try something since he will die in time without food.


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## dorianc204 (Mar 12, 2007)

I HAVE SEEN THIS B4 LAST TIME IT WAS JSUT A PIECE OF PLASTIC PLANT STUCK IN THE LIL GUYS MOUTH TRY AND TAKING HIM WITH UR HAND UNDER WATER SO HE CAN STILL BREATH AND USE SUMTHING TO LOOK IN HIS MOUTH


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## 8Jaws (Mar 23, 2004)

take him to the vet, he probably has something lodged in his mouth


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## boozehound420 (Apr 18, 2005)

two of my piranhas went jaw to jaw during a feeding and that happend to both of them. It wasnt just the jaw being open though, they were badly bitten, all teeth showing and one even had the bite into the front part of his gills. They struggled for over a week to close there mouth. Forcfully clamping it shut and flaling and thrashing around. But it would always reopen. I tried what you did to help them out and push it closed and wiggle it side to side to see if it was dislocated but it didnt work.

They couldnt eat or anything so after 2 weeks the injuries were healed but the mouths were still open. After another week i killed them, no point letting them starve to death.


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## kevinw424 (May 28, 2007)

Sorry I havent posted anything in a while now but anyways thank you all for the help. As far as the piranha, I had him in a hospital tank for about 1 1/2 maybe 2 weeks and hes actually doing pretty good.Theres nothing lodged in his mouth or anything holding his mouth open. Trying to close it and clear it out were the first things I did. He has actually gained back some of the motion in his mouth and I can see him bite down on things that he eats and occassionally just moves his mouth around. He doesnt have enough to his bite to really tear into anything but he gets decent sized bites out of white fish fillets now. He has been added back to his tank and they have all been one happy shoal for about a week now. I'll try to get more pics up later on. Thanks again everyone.


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## ILLdose13 (Nov 25, 2004)

good job on the recovery


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