wizardx322 Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 So yesterday i was glueing a coral down and a piece of glue floated off and my powder blue decides to try and eat it!!!! He glued his mouth shut and i have no idea what to do. my blue tang did this noce but she was able to open it back up. i cought the powder blue yesterday and had no idea how to really get the glue out with out hurting him. i think it might starve to death if he doesnt get his mouth back open. and it pains me to see him trying to get food i feed cyclopeze to see if he can eat seem to be eating alittle but when he trys to eat all the other he cant! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+brian.srock Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 Wow thats a first. Maybe you can use tweezers and hold him in your hand and pry some of it off. I'm sure it hasn't completely bonded yet since he's all slimy and wet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dapettit Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 I think acetone is the only thing that removes super glue. I would not try to pry his mouth open, you could rip his lips off. Found this info on how super glue works: The main ingredient in Super glue is cyanoacrylate (C5H5NO2, for you chemistry buffs). Cyanoacrylate is an acrylic resin that cures (forms its strongest bond) almost instantly. The only trigger it requires is the hydroxyl ions in water, which is convenient since virtually any object you might wish to glue will have at least trace amounts of water on its surface. Not sure what to suggest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10gReef Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 maybe and xacto and a steady hand, try to shave it off and not cut the fish to much or see if you can get it to peel. best of luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dapettit Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 Found this on another forum: Yup, IIRC someone here also had this happen a few yrs ago and the super glue let go, slothed off, or otherwise ended up going away on it's own. I'm guessing that the fish's mucus will keep it from sticking the way it would on human skin. Dave- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 He's probably got a few days before lack of food starts to have adverse effects. Give it another day or two and see if it comes open naturally, it tends to flake off of my hands within 24-28 hours. Hopefully this wasn't from the cyphastera frag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad and Belinda Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 Addboy...AKA Garrett had this happen to his purple tang a while back. His cleaner shrimp tried helping the tang out and I believe that within a couple of days it came off. I think with all the moving around the tang was doing that somehow he worked it loose on his own. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All WYSIWYG Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 If it were me I would do nothing if the fish can breathe ok and is acting ok. Let the fish stay in the tank and don't stress it, I would only catch the fish if it was obvioulsly stressing out from the glue. I'm almost positive that the glue will fall off well before the fish starves. A healthy fish can go weeks without eating, I worry more about stressing the fish out trying to remove it when it willl probably come off on its own in a few days. If it hadn't come off in a week I would think more about taking it out and removing the glue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wizardx322 Posted April 27, 2012 Author Share Posted April 27, 2012 He's probably got a few days before lack of food starts to have adverse effects. Give it another day or two and see if it comes open naturally, it tends to flake off of my hands within 24-28 hours. Hopefully this wasn't from the cyphastera frag nah it wasnt from that thanks everyone yea i have had this happen once before like i said and the blue tang got rid of the glue after 2 days. powder blues are already a sensitive fish and hope it doesnt stress too much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bige Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 I have had this happen. My clown fish did the same thing and is now fine. He had trouble eating for about a week but he worked it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 How's the tang? Hope it works out. Let us know if anything worked. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wizardx322 Posted May 3, 2012 Author Share Posted May 3, 2012 How's the tang? Hope it works out. Let us know if anything worked. Good luck! Well after almost a week I came home today to find out my powder blue tang is finally able to open his mouth!!! So happy but only bad part is he has ich got 2 cleaner wrasse and 2 neon goby to help out hopefully my powder blue makes it. One of my favorite fish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niko's Reef Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 Wow really sorry to hear that Tim. Hope he pulls thru for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All WYSIWYG Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 Tim this is a good time to try the medicated fish food I just got, what do you think? I gave some to RCA and Aquatek for them to try, maybe you can get some from them to treat your fish. I'm really curious of how well it works and if the PB is eating it would be a good candidiate. LMK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 (edited) I figured they would get their mouths open after a while. That is definitely a first for me, i.e. hearing that a fish ate glue. I'm glad they are okay. Edited May 5, 2012 by Derek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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