FishProfiles.com Message Forums

Hi,

I've bought about 15 harlequin rasboras from the LFS in the last several days, and out of 15, 4 have come home with damaged mouths. They are stuck open. Some look like they have lower jaw damage, some have no apparent reason for the stuck mouths. But so far, 3 of the 4 have died, and the fourth doesn't school with the rest.

I figured they would probably die, eventually, as they don't seem to be able to eat. But they all hard trouble swimming almost from the start. SO it doesn't seem like it's just their mouths.

All the ones with regular mouths are doing great, and no new cases of "stuck mouth" have appeared at my house. But still, almost 1/3 or these guys had this problem, so it can't be an accident, can it? Maybe a disease?

Any info would be much appreciated.

-Dennis

Beefshank

I think the best way is to contact your supplier and take them all back. Then treat your tank just incase and definatly dont buy any fish for a while, also have a real close look at the fish before you buy.
If there is a problem contact them immediatly. Ask politely about any other questions about that shipment and be firm in suggesting you are not very happy and what can be done about a replacemt at a later date.

If they refuse to coperate look elsewhere.

My Aqu keeps a record of all deaths and time in all tanks and any concerns from their clients. I lost 8 gouramies one each day for no reason at all. They checked their records no record of any problems but they replaced with all new fish from another batch at a later date

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

There have been cases of genetic faults in some fish and open mouths have been reported...

Jammed food is another cause.

--garyroland.

Genetic defects would make sense as there were several of them, and no others have had any problems. If I ever see one of the healthy ones DEVELOP this problem, I will be quite concerned.

All the affected ones passed away except for one. They were all out of the main tank, in a 5 gal by themselves. They all had this problem when they where still in the bag from the fish store.

The thing that I find strange is the timing. It seems so unlikely that all 4 would die of...whatever it is.... within 1 day of me getting them. Because as I said, they came from the fishstore with this problem, so it's not my tank. I wonder if they were damaged by the netting, but all on the mouth? What are the odds of that? Maybe it's a result of the stress of being netted? Lock-jaw-net-syndrome?

Well, anyway. I am watching all the healthy ones closely. They are all doing great, and hopefully they stay that way.

Time will tell...

thanks for the advice,
-Dennis