Need help, Hippo super glued his mouth.

[Dekon]

So I was glueing down some frags tonight with gel superglue and my Blue Hippo picked at one of the frags I just glued and he glued his mouth shut. What do I do now? Will it eventually fall off or do I need to pull him from the tank?

 

[jtmac]

I'm no super glue expert but I do know when I get it on my hands it dose not come off as easy as it just falling off. I think he may be in some trouble.....Good luck!

 

[JPags]

If his mouth is closed you may need to get him out because I am not sure how quickly it will come off, and he may not be able to eat.

It does come off your skin but takes a while. I know if you get it on your fingers and they get glued together you are in much worse shape than if it just dries on your skin.

Keep us up on how he is doing.

John

John

 

[Kman2010]

The same thing happened to my Atlantic blue tang. you basically have to use a x-acto knife and carefully cut between the lip and glue and pull it off. the hardest part was catching the fish! goodluck

 

[jimrawr]

I have seen this happen on RC.com to a clown, and it was gone after a day without needing to pull the clown.. the thread had pics and all

 

[JohnK]

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.

That said, if the fish isn't able to eat within a day or two I'd be trying to catch it and go with the x-acto knife idea.

 

[Dekon]

OK, so I got a better look at him, and the superglue is stuck to his top lip only. I can definitely see a space under the superglue and he can open his mouth. I guess I will keep an eye him for the next day and hope for the best.

 

[STiTCH87]

Wow that is a tragically unfortunate turn of events! Yes just keep an eye on him and make sure he still has the ability to eat. Most fish have a slime coating which should aid in that glue being removed overtime. Also IIRC some fish "shed" if you will, their outer coating sometimes like when they're sick to remove parasites. Feel like I read that once before. never the less, long as he's eating, I see no reason why he'd be in any danger.

However, if for an emergency situation you ARE forced to catch him, DO NOT use an x-acto knife. Use a sewing needle. It's much more precise but more blunt so chances of accidental injury to the fish is reduced. Though catching a tang would be more difficult than glue removal most likely anyways.

 

[delta]

I would wait it out a bit taking the fish out and cutting his mouth open may just kill it. Superglue doesn't hold in salt water like it does in open air.

Over the year waiting it out has been very successful, I have always waited it out. My clown fish have developed a taste for superglue

A few threads on the subject
http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/tags.php?tag=Fish+mouth+superglued

 

[STiTCH87]

Oh, for future reference, just thought up the idea to use reef putty glue (the purple one) to glue your frags into place, and then cut a 20oz soda bottle into a cylinder tube and place it around the frag so fish have difficulty getting at the glued area until it has had time to safely set into place. Dunno what to weigh down the bottle with, but i'm sure you could be creative. If this method catches on around here, let's name it after me? Lol.

 

[Dekon]

Well the lights came today and the glue was gone. He is eating like a pig.

 

[STiTCH87]

Glad to hear!