hey everyone!i noticed one of my fish were sitting at the top of the pond all morning today(the rest are perfectly fine). I took the fish out after watching its behaviour and put it in my hospital tank to take a closer look. ive noticed that the mouth is somewhat deformed and looks like it almost seal shut:S. Therefore, he cant eat, or even open his mouth, it isnt moving at all. Now i know i dont have the water paremeters etc because i have no tranportation cuz my car is getting ffixed for like 1000 dolars but still, can any1 help me?hes about 3" long, oh and ive also noticed the past few times ive few my fish in the pond he hasnt been eating and is very very skinny.

hey everyone!i noticed one of my fish was sitting at the top of the pond all morning today(the rest are perfectly fine). I took the fish out after watching its behaviour and put it in my hospital tank to take a closer look. ive noticed that the mouth is somewhat deformed and looks like it almost sealed shut:S. Therefore, he cant eat, or even open his mouth, it isnt moving at all. Now i know i dont have the water paremeters etc because i have no tranportation cuz my car is getting ffixed for like 1000 dolars but still, can any1 help me?hes about 3" long, oh and ive also noticed the past few times ive fed my fish in the pond he hasnt been eating and is very very skinny.

if u lift him above water does he open his mouth? wat I tried with one of my fish once was opening the mouth with a toothpick, u'd have to b really careful ofcourse, then u could try to put some food into his mouth, presoak it though

Hmmm - always tricky without background details or pics but it could be columnaris.
This bacterial infection deforms the mouth and prevents the fish from eating. Can you get a closer look at his mouth? Is there any white fluff or strands which are visible? If you raise him just above the water line he will gape (if he can!) and you will be able to see inside his mouth. Have a good overhead light source available. Any redness, swelling or white billowy matter is of note. Also, take a look at the fins and slimecoat for any noticeable changes.
What are the conditions where you are now keeping him? ie. water volume? filtration? Do you have a test kit? If so, water readings?
Let us know and hopefully we can help you get him right.

hi thanks, no i dont have a test kit, the only local fish store around town has one for 100 bucks!!i just fixed my car for 700 so im not spending anything for a while. but when you say when i hold him out of the water he will gape, i assume u mean open and close his mouth?i tried that and he didnt do anything, squirmed a bit but then stopped. he is a gorgeous fish, his fins are all 100% erect, no discoloration anywhere, but he is very skinny(head is by far the widest part of the fish) but there does look o be a very small amount of fungus growing out of the mouth now. hes in the only other tank i have which is 5 gallons but is being filtered by a pump for a 20 gal aquarium. im just scared hes gunna starve to death.

i held him above water but he didnt open his mouth. i thought of trying to pry it open but thought itd be too risky. How is your fish doing now?acting normal?

OK. Well if you see fungus coming from the mouth then let's proceed with some meds. I hope we are in time considering his weightloss and current inability to eat.

The treatment rests on your keeping perfect water conditions - any ammonia and it will be worse than no treatment at all. Is the filter cycled or not? If not, you should get zeolite or ammo-chips to deal with ammonia during treatment phase.
If you can get Maracyn and Maracyn 2 (Mardel) you should run them together. Keep the tank dark, as light will de-activate the meds.
Be sure to get a water test-kit, too - relying on the fish shop gives you no control over your water chemistry as parameters can escalate out of safety in less than a day. There are many online suppliers of Tetra, API or Hagen kits.

As your tank is only 5 gals it is vital to make large, daily water changes in order to keep bacterial levels from climbing.

I'll merge your other topic to save confusion - one topic per problem is the simplest way to go.

Let us know how things go

Pixie always gives great advice, but if u really think he's gonna starve maybe u could try the toothpick thing, it worked when i did it way back but I couldnt get any food into my fishie cuz he had his whole mouth blocked off by some kind of slime but maybe u could try it? Does he try to eat food at all? If u do try this then just take the tip of the toothpick and push down gently on the bottom lip, i got my fish to open his mouth that way, maybe that way u could see if he's got some kind of infection or something too

ok ill try that then. he looks like a nice fish, this is his only problem, i dont understand though, all his fins are 100% erect, hes swimming lots, near the top but hes not flopsy or lavy and his color is brighter than all my other fish. Im going to try this toothpick thing and ive put fungus cure in the tank, it has a cycled filter running it so the water is pristine. although, the bottom of fungus care doesnt mention any water changes while the medications in the water tho, just after 48 hrs it does.can i still change 50% of the water tonight and add 50% more meds?

ok, so i open the mouth with a toothpick extremely gently and it opened ok. there was some build up of fungus or something inside so i also extremely carefully tried to get some out, i got just a little, but didnt wanna cause any wounds since the condition hes already in. i put a piece of presoaked freeze dried krill in his mouth, a very small piece, i dont know if he swallowed it though.


edit, 10 minutes later, fish laying on side at the top, i took the food out of his mouth, hes not doing good all the sudden:(

another fish, dead.

I'm so sorry.. I really think the toothpick was too stressful. Treating the bacteria the way Pixie suggested would have been best.
I hope things turn around for you soon.

Rest In Peace, Little Fish. You're a healthy fish now, in the Waters of Heaven.

Debbie

I am so sorry

Gha! I'm so sorry.
Unfortunately Columnaris is a virulent infection once it takes hold, and with a fish who is already so thin and unable to eat, it's a gamble as to whether it can be saved or not.
For future reference - trying to force-feed a columnaris fish is probably not the best idea. The slime you see is the evidence of the disease which unfortunately causes adhesions. Even if you force food inside, it will not be able to swallow and prising its mouth open when it is so sick is pretty stressful.
Take a good look at your other fish to be sure they are not affected. I'm not an expert on ponds but perhaps someone over in the pond dept can advise on a good course of maintenance to clear any high bacterial load and possible parasite presence.

so sorry to hear that....i feel like its my fault now....i didnt no it wouldnt b good for the fishie sorry I just thought it would work cuz it did with my guy

im really sorry

Don't worry Shamu - you did not kill the fish.
The point to understand is, that a skinny fish who cannot eat IS already starving. Force-feeding doesn't stop starvation in advanced illness a) because the fish cannot swallow anyway, and b) because the food, if it could be ingested, would need to be medicated to do any good.
If you ever come across this again with your own (or anyone elses fish), the first port of call is to treat with a water borne med to help clear the infection causing the slime adhesions.

ok makes sense

no no its not ur fault. its ok. im over it. ive kind of narrowed down the fish ppulation just to the healthy ones. The rest have all been inspectted, and are very very nice fish. Their fins are all 100% erect, beautiful color, and theyre nice and plump lol!actually im tempted to brag about 1 of my commets. its really really dark grey with a nice long round tail, and really tall dorsal fin. the best thing about it is thats its growing extremely fast, its about 6 inches long now with the tail and has really solid white tips on its tail. haha, so anyways. thanks for the help everyone. cheers!