a fish is stuck in her mouth

I foolishly put a new cory (a cat fish sort of thing) in with my 3 year old axolotls - they have been living quite happily with one for the last 18 months so I thought it was safe. Unfortunately one of my axys fancied a fish snack and how the head is stuck in her mouth. Corys have some spikes around their mouths. I tried to remove it by gently opening her mouth but only part of the fish came out. She was remarkably co-operative. She doesn't seem too distressed but she is clearly less than happy with herself. I have put her in the fridge to keep her calm and still. Should I try to get the fish out, leave it there for her to deal with or maybe take her to a vet to get it removed. I am not sure how long it has been there, at least 7 hours so far but it could have been a day or so. Any suggestions? And I definitely won't be putting any more fish in there even though the original fish is still doing fine and seems to swim happily past axolotl mouths without being touched.

A friend of mine had the same thig happen. He got the fish out but it was a two person job. One held the axolotl's mouth open and the other got the fish out. If it's just the spines left in the mouth, you could use tweezers?

thanks for the advice - I will give it a go if I can find a helper - my family are not as fond of the axolotls as I am.

Ha, I know the feeling. Then again, I don't think my family could be as fond as I am of the axolotls. But maybe if you have a duaghter or a little sister, you could tell her they are very, very soft and very, very delicate (you can hurt them so easily!). This kind of "snagged" my youngest and now she even helped me last weekend to remove eggs from the plastic plants (a snotty job indeed).

Good luck to you both.

-Eva

If I were you I would take my axolotl to a vet to get the fish removed there asap. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but usually it does not end well for axolotls that have eaten cories There are a few threads around here of people who have removed the cories themselves but later on their axolotl has succumbed to infection. If you take your axie to a vet s/he can remove it and maybe see if there is any sign of infection.

In the mean time, keep up with the refrigeration as that will mean your axolotl is less stressed.

But yea, cories are one of the worst types of fish to keep with axolotls due to the spines they have. You were lucky for 18 months but keeping them means it is only a matter of time before one of your axolotls will have a go at the cory.

Hope it works out for you~

I was all set to attempt surgery but fortunately she spat the head out herself. It was in tact so with luck she has no residual spines embedded in her mouth. I have put her back in the tank and will keep an eye on her - she might need some time in the fridge or a salt bath or two just to be on the safe side. Definitely no more fish.

I never even thought to go to a vet! Silly me. Reckon I'd better find one around here who knows how to deal with the squishy ones, just in case.

Sue - great! I hope she'll be fine.

-Eva

Thanks Eva
hopefully she will be ok. You are lucky your daughter is happy to help with the axies. My son, aged 22 avoids them as much as he can, although he will feed them when I am away. Axolotl vets are not easily found, but since my last axolotl crisis, which the forum solved for me, two are now listed in my local phone directory. Hopefully we will never need them.
regards
Sue