open mouth betta

Question
My betta can't seem to close his mouth.  He has a bubble sitting in his mouth, he wants to eat but when he takes food in he can't chew it so it comes out along with bubbles.  Three days now. 1/2 gal tank, changing water every other day at the moment, trying to help.  

Answer
Hi Pauline;

Poor guy. You're doing great keeping his water clean and he is obviously feeling okay otherwise since he still wants to eat.

I think there are two possibilities. He has a rock stuck in there, or there is swelling from something.

Sometimes fish bite at the gravel at the bottom of their tank to get to food particles there. They can get a rock stuck in their throat. It has to be removed with tweezers in bigger fish, but that would be very difficult in such a small fish as a betta. If you don't have gravel small enough for him to get in his mouth it's very unlikely that he could have gotten anything small enough to get stuck.

If it's swelling, it could be from an infection. You might try an antibiotic such as "Maracyn Two". Also Melafix and salt are good to help soothe whatever inflammation is there and heal damaged tissues.

Let me know how it's going...

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins