You've GOT to be kidding me! YT glued his mouth shut!

[fritz]

Yellow Tang glued his mouth shut!

I glued some frags onto some LR rubble. I let them cure a bit and placed them in the tank. About an hour later I went to feed my fish and my yellow tang had a piece of what looked like white cheato in his mouth. I watched him chase the food around but he never opened his mouth. I noticed his gills fluttering more then normal but certainly not "labored breathing." Upon closer inspection it seems that he was picking at the super glue gel and ingested some.

HIS MOUTH IS NOW GLUED SHUT!

I don't know if Tangs shed skin like we do or if he's doomed to starve to death. He has a stomach full of cheato so he should be ok for a few days without eating. Anyone have any insight to this? Anyone ever experience anything like this?

 

[DEEPWATER]

HEy fritz
srry to hear that ,I dont have answer for you ,But i think you should change the heading of this post ,TO "i Glue my YTs mouth shut "

You should of put the frags in your sump for a few hrs and let them cure there.I know nail polish remover is out of the question ,

Only 2 guys i would ask ,Marrone and Spykes they might know

Good luck man

 

[jrodjordan]

Ha!!! that is funny! in a twisted sort of way...
I'll call my dentist, he is a fish expert, too!

Sorry to hear that,
I hope the Tang makes it!!

 

[DEEPWATER]

THe fish may try to scrap it off on the rocks ,,That what im thinking hopefully the fish will be as smart and try that

 

[marrone]

Usually the glue cures pretty fast so It's mouth mayn't be glued but may have a piece of the glue stuck in it's mouth. If you can remove the fish you can probably pull it off with some tweezers. I would also think that the glue may flake off either from the fish rubbing against a rock or just the fish trying to get it out of it's mouth.

 

[inline6]

Hope your tang makes it.
I did have a 6 line wrasse that love to eat the glue I used for frags also.
Didn't seem to do it any harm, of course it didn't glue its mouth shut.

 

[Tonyscoots84]

good luck... hopefully he makes it....

 

[jhale]

If he does not get the glue off in a day i would do as marrone said and get him out and do some fishy surgery.

 

[Deanos]

If he does not get the glue off in a day i would do as marrone said and get him out and do some fishy surgery.

Don't forget to take pictures!

 

[Tonyscoots84]

that was something that always worried me about gluing frags inside the tank...

 

[DevIouS]

Don't forget to take pictures!

:lol2:

 

[fritz]

I'll take pics if I do. Personally I prefer to loosely wrap the gils in wet paper towels when performing surgery. I'm just affraid of breaking his jaw or teeth.

 

[Falco]

My Solar Wrasse got some glue on its mouth (mostly on the outside) and half of its mouth was obstructed with glue. Within 24 hours the glue was gone, not sure how he got it off but my guess is he scraped up against the rocks. Since your case is a little more serious I would suggest waiting a day or so before pulling the fish out for some surgery.

Chris

 

[DEEPWATER]

This should go down in the fish dos and donts ,LOL

Srry Fred ,but it is freaking funny you know ,i hope you have bad dream about a tang glueing your mouth shut while another one is holding you down ,,,,,loll ,LOL

JKing i just had too

 

[fritz]

No it's cool I realize how funny this is. My Yellow Tang seems pretty calm about the whole thing which makes it easier. Every now and again he tries to wrestle his mouth open.

I wouldn't even consider surgery unless he was about to die. The chances of me being able to free his jaws without breaking them or causing serious damage is slim/none.

If he does come through I doubt he'll be picking at the base of my SPS anymore.

 

[tomzpc]

Believe it or not I've heard of this happening more than once on Reef Central with the fish coming out just fine.

 

[tomzpc]

Found some. Too funny..not for the fishes though. :splitspin

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=754632&highlight=glued+fish

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=835625&highlight=glued+fish

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=528176&highlight=glued+fish

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=279253&highlight=glued+fish

 

[VJ&POOPS]

Hope the fish is better....

I would recommend removing the fish to treatment tank and adding some stress coat...hopefully it's slimed off.....that's what would usually happen naturally in the saltwater but adding a bit more stress coat may help the process along.

........

Yellow tangs are sometimes unpredictable..I once saw a yellow tang at a LFS with only one eye (completely gone), yet the fish appeared stress free and was even eating.....

 

[fritz]

He's all better and eating!

He seems none worse for the wear either.

Thanks for the input all, I'm sure he's learned his lesson.

 

[Zoous]

Glad your YT made it.