# Sick Cherry Barb



## lithium (Aug 27, 2010)

Hi all, this is my first post on the forum, I was hoping someone here could help me with a problem.

I have a freshwater tank that currently houses five cherry barbs (one male, four female) and two small albino catfish. 

One of the female barbs has had its mouth stuck open constantly for several weeks and has lost a significant amount of weight. There are no obvious signs of parasitic, bacterial, or fungal infection, and bacterial and fungal remedies have not fixed the problem. Nothing is jammed in the mouth either, which leads me to wonder if the fish managed to break its jaw somehow.

I'm grinding up flake food (just in the last few days) to allow the fish to at least get the food in its mouth, but I'm not sure if it's been able to successfully eat anything. 

If anyone's dealt with this problem or similar in the past, please let me know what you tried. Thanks!


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## lithium (Aug 27, 2010)

Sadly, she died this morning. I guess the ground food was too little too late.

I'd still like to know if anyone has dealt with a similar situation before, just in case it happens in the future.


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## mk4gti (Jun 15, 2010)

Hey man, i have 7 cherry barbs in my 20 gallon with some albino cory cats as well, i never saw anything like that happen, it could be a random occurrence. Sorry for your loss.


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## lithium (Aug 27, 2010)

Thanks. I'm thinking it may have been a random injury too.

Unfortunately the barbs at the pet store all have ich, so no replacement right now.


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