Bit Of A Problem

[Athena]

I was shocked to discover one of my little female Short Bodied Pink Convicts has got herself into quite a predicament with a piece of gravel stuck in her mouth, wedging her mouth open.

She is showing no signs of ill health, she is swimming normally, busy looking after a new batch of fry, and is even managing to eat somehow. She sucks it in over the lodged gravel.

I have never handled any of my fish before and I'm also quite squeamish, panicky at the thought of hurting her BUT I did have a go at trying to pick the gravel out with a very slim, round-edged pair of tweezers.

But it must have really hurt her when I tried to pull it out because she catapulted herself out of my hands and landed on the floor! I was sitting on the floor at the time so she didn't have a long drop, thank goodness.

Anyway, needless to say, I gave up on that idea. I have been treating the tank with anti-bacterial med since then just to be on the safe side, in case all the stress and handling had any adverse effect.

So far so good - she is swimming around and behaving quite normal.

So what would you do in this situation? Leave her to take her chances? Try again to remove it and chance harming her in the process?

It's such an awful situation to be in. Very upsetting. I've no idea if she's in pain - but surely if she was in pain she would be showing signs of stress by now? But she's being a busy little mother, taking care of her fry and looking fine apart from her mouth being constantly open.

I guess it happened when she was busy nest-building for the fry. She's forever moving gravel into little piles, making barricades etc.

Poor little thing, eh?

Regards - Athena

 

[WILDER]

I the same I panic,

Athena wrap the fish in a cloth soaked in tank water. Ask someone to hold the fish gently down for you.
Remove the object by the mouth or inside the gill opening.
The object needs to be removed.

 

[roadmaster]

I might try taking a clean damp washcloth and place the fish on the wash cloth and fold the cloth over the fish with just the head area visible.this should allow you to hold the fish firmly but not too firmly, and prevent the fish from wriggling.
try to dislodge the pebble quickly with the right tool for the job and then immediately return the fish to the water.
If you can't dislodge the pebble within a few seconds , then I would not persist but would try again perhaps in a few days assuming the pebble is still there.

 

[Athena]

Thanks for the tip about the flannel. It doesn't help that she's so small and it's hard to get a hold of her properly. She's only about and inch and a half long and I was finding it difficult to hold her whilst trying not to touch her eyes or cause damage to her gills.

Will have another go tomorrow, to give her time to get over the first bout of stress.

Oh dear...not looking forward to doing it, though.


ps - also, how long can a fish survive out of water?

 

[WILDER]

Not sure will go and look for you.

Rockitis (a.k.a. Rock In The Mouth)

Symptoms:

Fish will yawn and appear to be imbalanced in the water, with their head significantly lower than their tail (as if they were standing on their head).


Cause:

The fish has ingested a rock or gravel and is unable to spit it back out.


Treatment:

You need to remove the gravel from the fish's mouth or else it will eventually die of starvation. To do this, net the fish and as you bring it to the surface, it will open its mouth. If not, gently open its mouth with a fingernail or tweezers. At this point, grasp the rock with long, round-tipped tweezers and pull it out. If it does not come out easily, you can try turning the rock inside the fish's mouth to loosen it and then pull. To prevent this from reoccuring, you might consider replacing your gravel with gravel that is too large to fit in your fish's mouth.

Note: Only handle fish with wet hands and hold them gently. Never keep them out of water for more than 2 minutes, although this should only take 30 seconds. If you are unable to remove the rock, keep trying. Return the fish to the water and try again after it has rested for a few minutes.

 

[Athena]

Great - thanks for that, Wilder. She's not swimming unbalanced or with head lower than rest of body but there's definitely a tiny piece of brown gravel in there as I can clearly see it there. She's not starving as she is able to suck food in somehow,around the stone.

I just hope that it hasn't become fused in there, you know, when tissue begins growing around it making it almost impossible to remove it without damaging the fishies mouth.

Oh well - I can but have another try. Thanks again for the tips.

Regards, Athena

 

[Skins]

Fingers crossed you can remove it.

Skins.

 

[WILDER]

Try catching her with a net to see if that gets the gravel out of her mouth.
It's need removing as it will cause an infection.

 

[-Craig-]

This happened to one of my angels, He was looking after fry too, I got it out and it was fine, Could you post a update on this?

 

[Flute]

Aww bless her, what a horrible predicament! I hope you managed to remove it

I remember having to remove a fish lice from one of my gourami. I held her whilst dad tried to remove it with tweezers. Because of her slime coat he could get it and the horrible thing moved over her eye. I was nearly sick (I panic with stuff like this too), but thankfully he managed to remove it and she was absolutely fine afterwards.

 

[LadyniteDaFishLover]

Awww poor fishy >_<" I hope you got it out fine. Even if it does scrape the fishes mouth, it's most likely that it will heal, if its not too deep. <3