Oh no! Don't know whats wrong, help!

[lyquidphyre]

I will fill out all the other stuff in a min but I need to know right now what this could be.
I just looked in my tank and my golden barb's mouth is REALLY messed up.
Its stuck open in that O shape and its red all around (almost like he got beat up)
I didn't see any gravel in his mouth.. is this a disease or an accident?

[Toirtis]

Sounds like a potential sparring injury....any suspects?

[lyquidphyre]

Weird.

So for about 30min (er, thats when i noticed this) his mouth was stuck in an O shape and kinda red.. seriously it looked like he got beat up... so I tried to catch him to see if it was gravel and maybe to QT him. I couldnt catch him, so I decided to lay off for a while.. feed them and keep an eye on him.

I look, and his mouth is back to normal, still really red, but he is able to eat.. and his mouth isn't stuck open.

I mean, thats a good thing... but weird, no less. I was worried it was lockjaw

[Toirtis]

Definitely sounds like he may have been sparring with someone.....glad to hear that he has his jaws back in place at least.

[lyquidphyre]

My little devils of the tank are my oddessa barbs.. but my golden barb is bigger than they are and they don't ever cause more damage than nipped fins.

I have a red tailed black shark, but he is really docile

I have a new angel, but she is a baby and not aggressive

Other than that its just hatchets, serpae tetras, and cories

[lyquidphyre]

I freaked out because that is something you don't want or expect to see. And Ive already had my fair share of fish deaths lately and I couldn't bare to part with my golden barb.

I guess if I see a fish with a black eye, I'll know who the culprit was =o)