Clown with something lodged in his lip

[shocker8786]

Hey everyone,

i have a clownfish that I noticed has something sticking out of his lip. It looks like some kind of a spine or fish bone. Pictures aren’t super clear, but you can see it’s sticking out of the top of his lip and appears to come out through his mouth.

Doesn’t seem to be bothering him and he’s eating fine so far. wondering if I should leave him and see if it resolves on it’s own or try and catch him to remove it. Don’t want to hurt him or stress him out but I can try to grab him if that’s the best approach.

Not sure where it came from. I have an urchin in the tank but it looks too thin to be one of his spines I think.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey everyone,

i have a clownfish that I noticed has something sticking out of his lip. It looks like some kind of a spine or fish bone. Pictures aren’t super clear, but you can see it’s sticking out of the top of his lip and appears to come out through his mouth.

Doesn’t seem to be bothering him and he’s eating fine so far. wondering if I should leave him and see if it resolves on it’s own or try and catch him to remove it. Don’t want to hurt him or stress him out but I can try to grab him if that’s the best approach.

Not sure where it came from. I have an urchin in the tank but it looks too thin to be one of his spines I think.

With the heavy blue light , I cant clearly see object. Can you go to white lights and take a closer pic(s) ?
Is fish eating?
How is the breathing. . . normal or labored?

 

[MnFish1]

I cannot see the object. However - If , in fact there is an object. You can try to net it - and remove it. Especially if it's getting bigger as you watch It could be a viral infection or a foreign body. I would use this as a last resort - unless the fish is declining

 

[MnFish1]

After re-reviewing the pictures. - It seems like an object stuck in the mouth area - not in the mouth itself. Or a viral infection. This would be a delicate situation to remove/change. I would leave it alone - and see what happens

 

[Reeflix]

do you have cleaner shrimp in the tank? i had one in my tank and it molted and my fish decided to eat its antenna. pics under white light would definitly help.

 

[shocker8786]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I do have a cleaner shrimp so it could be part of the molt. Looks like a little skewer.

I’ll see if I can get some better pictures, but I have a t5 setup so will have to improvise to get whiter light images.

I’ll plan to give it a few days and see how it progresses. He seems to be doing fine, isn’t impacting him at all so far. If he starts to decline I’ll try and remove it.

 

[Reeflix]

if it is part of the shrimp then he should eventually swallow it

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

At first I thought bristleworm spine, but I can see the white spike now and that is too large to be that. I would just wait and see. If you see secondary symptoms (not eating well, etc.) you could try physical removal.

Jay