# hole in head?



## fishtales (Mar 27, 2011)

i noticed my gold marble with a minor hole next to his mouth and like blood also surrounding it. i have no idea what it could be,

hole in head?

mouth rot?

hes not showing me his bad side too much so hard to snap a photo. 

i will try and take another, better photo. please let me know if there is anything i can do to help it.


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## fishtales (Mar 27, 2011)

trying to get a better photo. still hiding towards the back. he hasnt been eating.


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## fishtales (Mar 27, 2011)

the reddish mark has gone away. it appears to be almost a bruise. but his mouth is still kinda weird. idk if he caught some decor or something and no one in my tank is too aggressive. 

i did put a couple drops of melafix in it (not a lot and i didnt remove my filter bags) 

i normally do water changes today so idk if that would help/hurt him. i will also check everything to see where my levels are and maybe see if i can post another better pic


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## graceful.04 (Oct 30, 2012)

Angelfish are prone to hole in head so it wouldn't surprise me if that's what it is. Melafix is pretty powerful stuff, probably the closest thing to an antibiotic so I would suggest continuing the treatment for seven days and seeing what he looks like then.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I think a dislocated jaw is a likely cause for the strange looking mouth. They can mess it up jawlocking, digging in substrate or whacking into lid and decor when startled at night.


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## fishtales (Mar 27, 2011)

i know angelfish are prone to hole in head. i was putting melafix into the tank but i came home from work last night and he had past. i did get better pics of it and it did look like a dislocated jaw. ive never heard/seen that. he wasnt eating. but idk if the melafix would have even helped that would it?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

If a fish doesn't eat, it will die in several weeks. Melafix might be helpful against keeping open sores or fighting wounds from getting infected, but it wouldn't fix a jaw or make a fish eat. Some people have claimed to physically re-located jaws in bigger fish like koi, but it takes some skill as the bones are pretty thin and a broken jaw is likely worse than an open one. 

Best thing for medicating cichlids is isolation (they pick on weak or sick fish), clean water, and sometimes salt and an antiseptic.


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