Guppy fry that can't close its mouth

[kitty falol]

Can anyone help me

I've just looked in my tank and I've got a month old female fry that seems to have its mouth stuck open. Poor thing!

I just tried to feed her and she didn't get any, just swam around frantically in it

Her gills are also permanently open, but I'm guessing the 2 are linked

Do you think it's some sort of disease? or could she have something stuck? My water parameters are fine and I've just done a water change. She doesn't seem to have any other visible illness and all my other guppies are fine.

Any ideas what to do??

 

[Joby]

Can you actually see anything in her mouth? I had a 6 week old female guppy that swallowed a pellet which got stuck. It was only just visible in the back of her mouth which she couldn't shut and also her gills stuck out. I got her out in a net and managed to dislodge the pellet with a tooth pick

I've since had other young fish get food stuck and they've managed to dislodge it theirselves after a while (one took 3 days!) as well as a black moor with a huge lump of gravel in its mouth.

Give her time, if she's got something stuck with luck it will either pass through or come out

Can't really think what disease would cause those symptoms though

 

[WILDER]

Does the mouth look red and inflamed.

 

[sylvia]

Is there any sign of fungus as well. I once had a young danio with mouth fungus (bacterial infection) that couldn't close his mouth.

 

[SnowyzMom]

Of course this NEVER happens in my tank but in another person's, who will not be named, tank I saw a female guppy swimming around with her mouth open and not eating. Then I noticed a hair sticking out of the corner of her mouth. I managed to grab the end as she was right on the surface and pulled and out came this hairball! The long hair was all coiled up into a ball. Yeeesh! She was much happier after that.

So yeah, something could be stuck in there, sure sounds like it. Good luck in fixing it!

 

[kitty falol]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

I can't see any sign of a fungus or rot and her mouth is its usual colour. It really does sound like something could be stuck in there, doesn't it.

I've looked in there but I can't see anything. Is there a safe way of handling a guppy? I don't want to stress her out any more than she is, poor thing.

 

[Joby]

When I looked at the 2 I've done I just got them out with the net, then put them on a towel and used a torch to shine into the mouth to see what I was doing. They do jump around at first, but after a while mine must have realised I was trying to help them and kept still. I kept a tub of tank water nearby and dipped them in ever 20 seconds or so to make sure I didn't deprive them of water.

Unless you can actually see what is there then I wouldn't try and get it out. The last one I did had the pellet quite far back in the mouth and I could only really scratch the surface of it and the gills kept opening wide so I was worried I was going to kill it. In the end I just put it back in the tank and next morning the pellet was out and it was thankfully eating again after 4 days!

Good luck with her and I hope she manages to eat soon

 

[kitty falol]

Thanks for that Joby.

Maybe I'll give her another day or so, I don't know want to stress her out any more than she is. The thought of handling her just fills me with dread to be honest

 

[kitty falol]

[Update] Well it's nearly 2 weeks since my first post and her mouth is back to normal . I had a look at removing whatever was stuck but I was just too worried about pushing it in further.

I think that she must have got a hard piece of pea stuck and she's been digesting it for a fortnight (Bless her.)

Her expression went from one of shock to a permanent whistle and then back to normal.

She was looking pretty emaciated for a while, but she's starting pooing again so she must be eating again now

Phew!

 

[WILDER]

glad to hear that she on the mend, bless her.

 

[Joby]

awww bless her

Glad to hear she's getting back to normal

scoffing and pooping