Boston Aquarium Society Message Board

Little Cautionary tale from my weekend...

Well about a month ago I saw my last Clown Barb had gotten something stuck in his mouth. I assumed it was a piece of gravel and let him try to work it out. No such luck. He is a jumpy fish so just getting a look at him can be tough. His gills looked odd, and his face looked hunched up. Since I noticed he was loosing weight I decided to catch him and see if I could do something about what was in his mouth. In the iso container I put him it it looked like he had found a porcupine because of the little spines sticking out of the bottom of his jaw.

It was the top of a plastic plant. It ate a hole through the bottom of his jaw. I couldn't pull it out his mouth, so had to be the hole. I hope he recovers, but since he would have died of starvation I don't feel too bad about pulling it out. I had him in a net inside one of those pyrex loaf pans to keep him wet. I used small locking forceps to grab the plant.

He got put back in his normal tank, and hopefully will be left alone. He's the biggest fish in the tank, and I'm very sure it would stress him out to be in a tank with no tankmates. I also am not going to put a 6 inch active fish in one of my 15 gallon isos.

So I pulled all my plastic plants and am replacing with rockwork, live plants where I can, and driftwood. At least live plants would eventually rot in his mouth.

As of today he was quite happily hunting food and is no longer hiding behind decor. Some food is falling out of his mouth, but not all of it. I'm overfeeding a little to give him a better chance. His face was kind of puffy yesterday, but he looked much better this morning.

--Mia

Update on the poor guy. Well his mouth has cleared up, and overall he is doing well. Nice and fat. Though he is a bit annoyed with his tankmates. While he was feeling unhealthy they did a very bad thing.

My clown barb now has no pectoral fins at all, just little stubs. So even though he swims well, he can't stop or turn very well. I blame the skunk loaches that have since been removed. I feel bad, and I know they aren't going to grow back from the damage that was done, but otherwise he seems fine, eating well, being out and social.

Evil little Fish...

--Mia