My neon has lockjaw

[statisticsnerd]

One of my neons has had what appears to be lockjaw for the past month. Its mouth hangs open constantly and it breathes rapidly. I don't believe this condition is contagious because none of the other fish around it have gotten sick ( there are five other neons). It has no trouble eating and its behavior is normal other than the open mouth and heavy breathing. He schools with the rest of the neons and is active.

My water parameters are fine (Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10ppm), the tank is clean, and I do a 25% water change every week. What can be wrong with my poor little fishy? Here's a picture:

EDIT: Oops, my bad. Guess this should be in the sick fish section. Mods, move it if you want.

 

[SeymourFRESH]

all i can say is "whoa, that's crazy"

 

[statisticsnerd]

Yeah, isn't that freaky? Poor thing, I can see all the way down his throat. That can't be comfortable.

 

[DragonFish]

well, as long as he eats, that's the main thing.

my only concerned would be any foriegn object going into his mouth (ie- unwanted sand/gravel, plants, ect) since he cant keep his mouth closed to prevent the stuff from going in. otherwise, I've seen fish with mouths stuck open and did very well

 

[lmw80]

I would just keep a close eye on him for neon tetra disease...it does appear that his red line is fading a bit....

 

[Devilishturtles]

I've had 3 or 4 Rainbowfish come down with lockjaw before. The bad thing about their condition is that they weren't eating. It took them only 2 weeks with the condition to die from starvation. The third and fourth time I had to euthanize them.

So keep an eye on him. It may go away, it may not. As long as he eats, I wouldn't worry but just keep up on water changes and such.

Good luck.