CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

Hi O's are new to me and am after some help, one of my 2 O's has just begun swimming around with his mouth open no apparent reason i have examined his mouth no sign of ulcer or blockage, he can shut it but just doesn't, been like this for 2 days now this is his first day not eating, could it be temp? due to recent hot weather the tank has warmed up 1 degree to 27 c have just adjusted back to 26 c, Tank is big enough Ph OK nitrates OK, only feed pellets and is the dominant boy of the tank, have read other messages similar but not found a good answer 

Maybe an oxygen prob?  How big is the tank?  How big are the O's?  What kind of filtration & water movement do you have going?

one of mine did that after I got him a new filter......maybe you have a singing fish?

singing fish hehe tank is 270 ltrs ( metric in new Zealand) has two young O's both about 100mm / 120mm, one gold tinfoil barb , and a geopharus surina mensis, + two snails,  one rock (real heavy) piece of wood some artificial plants. I did have an air stone in but took it out fortnight ago when i did a clean but have put back in today, What is the best way to oxygenate water?? Filter is a eheim 2213 external inlet at one end outlet at other end.  Munter which is my O's of concerns name still has his mouth wide open, but will eat i need to feed him on his own a bit.
not sure if this is reversable not sure i like his new look too much 

The 2213 is a good filter, but by the those fish get their growth, it'll be challenged to keep up.  In 4-6 months you might consider putting something like a Penguin 330 on there as well.  Or maybe an AC 110.  For now, I'd put the airstone back in and see if it has an effect. 

Have done that was also wondering if this could be a genetic problem?? Animal5150 did your 0 come right??

well last night was Munter the open mouth O's last night, we had to put it down it was starting to suffer to much , after discussing with a local aquarium store who was adamant that it could only be a stone in its mouth ( turned out after examination that there was no stone or any obstruction), we did notice it had a hole just under its gills ?? but this still remains a mystery.  fishkeeping i guess, The bright side the tank and remaining fish are all happy and healthy, the remaining O missing its mate a bit and actually has become a little more aggressive to the tinfoil, tinfoil to fast however. I would like to thank you guys for your advise didn't help the end result but was helpfull:icon_salut:,

Sorry to hear that news.  Did the hole look like an injury, or deformity?

it looked more like a deformity it looked clean and tidy but  it could have been an injury. Theres nothing in the tank that sharp and small but who knows. i was also thinking maybe it had hit the glass hard and became a bit brain damaged?? hence the open mouth,anyone had one do this or have heard of anyone thats had this happen?? . They hit the glass heaps mainly at the top they must think they see something resembling food its a covered tank sometimes they hit it with force.

One of mine hit the top all the time.....thats just Oscar's.....they think they run the show all the time and that everything needs to be 'rearranged' to their liking.....one of mine has a fetish with his clear air tubes...... i told him to quit it cuz its against the rental agreement!

Not had it with an O, but I have had smaller fish (the last was an Apisto) that following a fight had broken / dislocated their jaw & it just hung open.  My O managed to damage his jaw following a fight with himself (don't ask  ) but apart from now being slightly wonky he is OK, but it was much worse at the beginning & he couldn't eat.

cheers for that, how long did it take to come right and do you think if its dislocated it can be put back,

He almost sorted it himself, of those that totally broke or dislocated I have only managed to save 1 and then it was only temporary.  When Murphy damaged his jaw, I enquired what I could do and was basically given 2 options;  sit & wait - see if it rights itself, which it did.  or catch the fish & see if I could manouever the jaw back into place.

I didn't want option 2 & around a week later of him moving his jaw about a bit (yawning, etc) it came good.  The guys who were giving the advice were senior fishkeepers who were used to handling their fish & I suppose they were looking at the fish dying if it could not eat but I was sure glad that option 1 came through. 

That said, he ate nothing for a week while he tried to right himself. 

This, of course, might not be your problem, but it's worth considering especially if he has bashed himself.  If he looks as though he's not too distressed and is trying to move it, I'd be tempted to give him a bit of time.

What's he like if you put his favourite food near him?

sadly as i mentioned earlier we put it down it was a tough call at the time but we believed he was deteriorating to a degree that was cruel, it was not in good shape,  however we still did not have a good answer to what happened, what you are describing sounds more like what we had. We did have it out of the tank a few times to see what was going on i did even try and close his jaw it would close but never stayed, in the beginning it ate, only separately from the others basically hand feed but then nothing for 4-5 days, In total it was probably 2 weeks in this condition, PS I like the name Murphy might steel it,