Mouth W-I-D-E open?!

[jweintraub]

For the past week or so 2 out of my 5 Neon Tetra's have been swimming around with their mouths wide open. I've observed them for many hours and they still school with the other three and are eating normally. One other problem is that on the tail of these two tetra's(not the tail fin) where it should be red, it has turned almost to a white color. Has anybody ever experienced this before or know what could be wrong with my 2 little guys. These 5 tetra's have been with me through the long haul, cycled my 20G and have always been the hardiest fish in the tank. There have been no changes in water quality, fish in the tank or regular maintenance. Thanks for your help everybody!

[Lady Hobbs]

Sure don't know what's wrong with them but know that once they start losing their color, they're using on the way out.

[cocoa_pleco]

on my other old forum i remember someones oscar had that and they had to keep popping the jaw in.

I think your neons took too big a piece of food and got some type of lockjaw.
If they do lose color like hobbs said, theyre probably on their way out.

Its too risky with a small fish to pop back in the jaw, and if theyre suffering euthuanise them

[cocoa_pleco]

Oh, and the white may be neon tetra disease.IF it gets worse, dispose and euthuanise it to protect your other fish

[jweintraub]

Neon Tetra disease?! That's a new one to me, I'm definately going to do a little research on that one. I definately wouldn't try to "pop" the jaw back in on such a small fish. I think I may know what could have caused the lockjaw now that I'm thinking about it... One of my Platties just had babies and by the time I got home from work and discovered this, I could only find 3. Maybe the others were eaten by the tetras? Thanks for the help Cocoa!

[jweintraub]

Here's some information on "Neon Tetra Disease" that I found:

Symptoms:
Restlessness

Fish begins to lose coloration

As cysts develop, body may become lumpy

Fish has difficulty swimming

In advanced cases spine may become curved

Secondary infections such as fin rot and bloating

During the initial stages, the only symptom may be restlessness, particularly at night. Often the first thing an owner will notice is that the affected fish no longer school with the others. Eventually swimming becomes more erratic, and it becomes quite obvious that the fish is not well.

As the disease progresses, affected muscle tissue begins to turn white, generally starting within the color band and areas along the spine. As additional muscle tissue is affected, the pale coloration expands. Damage to the muscles can cause curvature or deformation of the spine, which may cause the fish to have difficulty in swimming. It is not unusual for the body of the fish to have a lumpy appearance as the cysts deform the muscles.
Rotting of the fins, especially the caudal fin, is not uncommon. However, this is due to secondary infection rather than a direct result of the disease itself. Bloating is another secondary infection.