Lionfish jaw

[Selca Tanks]

Have this lionfish about 8 months old and the last few day it’s seems his upper lip/jaw is dislocated. Anyone ever experience this with their lionfish?

 

[littlefoxx]

Post the video to youtube and post a link here, that format doesnt work

 

[vetteguy53081]

Have this lionfish about 8 months old and the last few day it’s seems his upper lip/jaw is dislocated. Anyone ever experience this with their lionfish?

This is a form of locked cartilage which they sometimes get and its up to the fish to dislodge it and rebound. You can help it by dropping brine or mysis shrimp or other small food in which it will attempt to bite and it will snap back to normal position.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Have this lionfish about 8 months old and the last few day it’s seems his upper lip/jaw is dislocated. Anyone ever experience this with their lionfish?

Agree with @vetteguy53081 - this is failure of the cartilage in the upper jaw, causing the mouth to stay stuck open.

The cause is unknown, but most people suggest it is related to dietary problems. Trouble is, the is no consensus as to what that dietary problem is - the fish owner will say, I fed it x,y,z and the reply will be, yep! that caused it. Still, the two most likely culprits are oxidized (old) frozen krill and/or feeding the lionfish freshwater food animals.

You might read that it is related to some toxin in the food or some chemical the fish was exposed to in the past, that is all bunk.

I’ve only seen this in a serranus grouper many years ago, I worked the jaw back into place and while the fish didn’t look 100% normal, it was improved. Doing that with a lionfish isn’t recommended due to their venomous spines.

Some people have reported success feeding their lockjawed lions bits of shrimp on a thin rod like a broom straw.

 

[Selca Tanks]

This is a form of locked cartilage which they sometimes get and its up to the fish to dislodge it and rebound. You can help it by dropping brine or mysis shrimp or other small food in which it will attempt to bite and it will snap back to normal position.

Thank you