Yellow Lab

[SamUK]

got home from work today to see one of my yellow labs lookin a bit strange.


its mouth is kinda open and below her chin is kinda swollen.


thing is i did think it was quite plump last night and now it doesnt seem to be.


any ideas if its jus holding fry or its something worse??

only had the labs about 3 days.

 

[WILDER]

Mouth being open like tht can mean that it has something lodged inside the mouth, or a sore or ulcer in the mouth, you might have to remove the fish to take a look, wet a clean cloth in tank water remove fish, cover in the cloth and open mouth, i would sterlise a pair of tweezers before you do just in case you need them.

 

[TammyLiz]

Mouth being open like tht can mean that it has something lodged inside the mouth, or a sore or ulcer in the mouth, you might have to remove the fish to take a look, wet a clean cloth in tank water remove fish, cover in the cloth and open mouth, i would sterlise a pair of tweezers before you do just in case you need them.

What if she is holding? If you took her out and pried her mouth open she would certainly swallow them!

 

[julibob]

In my very minimal experience of brooding malawis, they usually have their mouth closed. I have never had one hold with their mouth open It sounds a bit odd to me.

Sorry I am not much use to you, but I am sure that someone with much more experience can help.

Hope she will be ok!!

Julia

 

[SamUK]

In my very minimal experience of brooding malawis, they usually have their mouth closed. I have never had one hold with their mouth open It sounds a bit odd to me.

Sorry I am not much use to you, but I am sure that someone with much more experience can help.

Hope she will be ok!!

Julia

after a better inspection shes not holdin it open.

more breathing like a goldfish opening and closing it.

lights have gone off now so ill see how she looks in the mornin.

 

[WILDER]

Good luck.

Found this for you as well, but not the writer of this information below.
Oxygen Deficiency



Symptoms:

Fishes that suffer from oxygen deficiency exhibit increased breathing, restlessness, and hanging under the surface of the water, gasping. Oxygen deprived fish usually have an overall pale coloration. Fish that die from the condition are usually observed to have their mouth open, in addition to exhibiting pale skin and gills.



Cause:

Lack of oxygen. This could be due to one or several factors: overcrowding, heavy feeding, dirty filters, poor aeration, a small water-to-air surface area, polluted water, elevated nitrite levels, and excessive algae growth or too many live plants. This last factor may not seem a logical one, but in the dark, plants and algae actually take oxygen out of the water, giving off carbon dioxide just as the fish do. Only in the presence of light do they release oxygen. Consequently, if you find your fish gasping at the surface in the morning, you may find you have too many live plants or too much algae in your aquarium.



Treatment:

Perform an immediate water change and increase the aeration in your tank. There are several methods for increaseing the water movement in your tank. This is important to ensure that your fish are getting the oxygen they need to stay healthy.

 

[tttnjfttt]

I've also noticed that with fish who are opening and closing their mouths frequently are can be breathing heavily as well.

 

[SamUK]

well it wasnt breathing any faster than normal earlier and defintalety wasnt gasping at the top or anything.


again, ill jus have to see what happens in the morning.

thanx guys.

 

[juanveldez]

okay this was just pointed out to me so I will make this quick

your fish is holding..... EVERYTHING that you discribed points to that.

for her health and well being if you have another tank avalible such as a 10 gallon that would be perfect for her just throw in a small cave and a sponge filter and wait a couple of weeks. eventually she will spit the fry out when they get too big for her to hold anymore. then all you have to do is a couple of days after they are spit out feed them some crushed flake food and keep it up for awhile.

on another note I have found that using a bare bottom tank is best when rearing fry.

 

[SamUK]

thanx for that and i hope your right!


im no expert but altho her mouth is the way it is, she still seems fairly happy.

Jus hides a bit which is normal too if shes holding rite?

trouble is my grow out tank is holding 40 odd baby plattys so i think ill have to leave her too it this time.


theres plenty of hiding places for her neway so she mite be ok.


if not what will happen? will she jus give up holding them??

 

[juanveldez]

what will happen is that the males will continue to pester her if there isn't any other females or not enough in there. and since she isn't eating while shes holding she will swallow the eggs which might happen the first couple times anyways. it would be better for her if she were to get out of the tank but if not just watch her closely, and when you see that her mouth has returned to normal start looking in all of the tinest cracks for the fry and get them out as the fry will be eaten by the others.

 

[julibob]

Sam,

I am so pleased for you that she is holding. My female that has bred, swallowed her eggs first time round, so dont be disappointed if she does. When she was holding this time, I stripped her and the fry (all 2 of them!) are happily swimming around in a specially adjusted breeding trap. I had never stripped a fish before and was all the more nervous as she is only tiny, but it was very easy and did not seem to stress her out at all.

Good luck with her, and I will post some pics of my babies for you to see soon.

Julia

 

[SamUK]

sweet, thanx for all the advice guys!



some yellow lab fry would make up for the loss of my female angel who had only jus paired up with my male


she wasnt happy ever since there first attempt at spawning failed.




ill keep my eye out for the pics julia!

 

[julibob]

Sam,

Have just posted some pics in African Cichlid section.

Julia