PB parrot convict not eating/mouth stuck open

[Stefan3289]

Hello all,

So one of my polar blue parrot convicts has been acting very strange. I first noticed he was not coming up to eat and found him hiding on the floor not moving much and breathing somewhat fast. His mouth looks like it is also stuck open as he cannot close it all the way. Is it possible he has some food stuck in his mouth? From my observation I can’t see anything when I put a flashlight against the tank unless it’s lodged deeper down. I moved him to my smaller 29 gallon tank so no other PB picks on him and put him in one of those breeder nets. He seems to be more active and moving around. I tried to feed him, he is still not eating and his mouth is still hung open. No other fish is showing symptoms like this, and yesterdays water parameters after a 50% water change (3 days ago) in his original 75g tank was:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
Temp: 71/75 (one of my submersible heaters stopped working, luckily I have 2 for that tank but new one is in now and temp is steady at 78
I attached a picture of him in the breeder net, the food I just put in to see if he would try eating. Sorry if it’s not the best picture my camera keeps focusing on the net rather than him.

 

[Stefan3289]

Hello all,

So one of my polar blue parrot convicts has been acting very strange. I first noticed he was not coming up to eat and found him hiding on the floor not moving much and breathing somewhat fast. His mouth looks like it is also stuck open as he cannot close it all the way. Is it possible he has some food stuck in his mouth? From my observation I can’t see anything when I put a flashlight against the tank unless it’s lodged deeper down. I moved him to my smaller 29 gallon tank so no other PB picks on him and put him in one of those breeder nets. He seems to be more active and moving around. I tried to feed him, he is still not eating and his mouth is still hung open. No other fish is showing symptoms like this, and yesterdays water parameters after a 50% water change (3 days ago) in his original 75g tank was:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
Temp: 71/75 (one of my submersible heaters stopped working, luckily I have 2 for that tank but new one is in now and temp is steady at 78
I attached a picture of him in the breeder net, the food I just put in to see if he would try eating. Sorry if it’s not the best picture my camera keeps focusing on the net rather than him.

Update: he is swimming more and is less lethargic, but he still seems to have rapid breathing and his mouth is still stuck open, did not touch the food I gave him yesterday. I don’t see any mucus around his gills, no gill flukes protruding from his gills though I will take another look, no velvet on his scales, I have the air pump on full blast as well to help him get more oxygen but I am debating taking him out of the tank temporarily to check with a flashlight to see if someone is lodged inside his mouth a little further down if he managed to grab one of the larger pellets I feed to my severum and EBA. My only other thought is if he got into a lip lock with one of the other PB that caused damage to his jaws, though I have never seen any of them ever lock mouths, only puff out their gills and chase. I also don’t think it would be possible with their mouth size to even lock lips like some cichlids do. Water parameters are all normal, did a 50/60% water change 2 days ago to keep the water quality really good for him.

 

[AJ356]

If it was a pellet, would have dissolved/softened by now. Sometimes with polar blues because of their deformity, it's not always easy to tell. But you seem to know your fish well and what's normal/abnormal.

Sounds like you doing a great job of trying!

You might want to post this on a different forum as well, or join a polar blue Facebook group.

At some point someone might come into this question here and say something like "these fish are made in a laboratory, not my cup of tea" type response

 

[Stefan3289]

If it was a pellet, would have dissolved/softened by now. Sometimes with polar blues because of their deformity, it's not always easy to tell. But you seem to know your fish well and what's normal/abnormal.

Sounds like you doing a great job of trying!

You might want to post this on a different forum as well, or join a polar blue Facebook group.

At some point someone might come into this question here and say something like "these fish are made in a laboratory, not my cup of tea" type response

He unfortunately passed away shortly after I made the updated post as he was unable to eat. I tried to give him some skinned peas as they are soft and the smallest food I had but it was no use. First time I have seen one of them with a locked jaw like that. I think he likely injured it

 

[AJ356]

Sorry to hear that.

 

[Fishmanic]

A pellet lodged in his throat could have caused it. I had it happen to my Bolivian Ram. He lived about one day after choking on the shrimp pellet.