cichlid mouth problem

Question
I have a blue texas cichlid that i just noticed cannot close his mouth.  his mouth area appears to be swollen and he is not eating.  can you help

Answer
Dear Tami,
Your Texas cichlid may have something lodged in his mouth. Many cichlids have this problem frequently because they enjoy digging and moving gravel and large rocks so much sometimes they can get a piece hung in their mouth. With the help of somebody, I would try holding the poor guy in a soft large net and shining a small flash light and look into his mouth to see if you notice anything strange. I know this is not as easy as I may make it sound but you can only do your best. Try to do this quickly and if you notice something lodged somewhere in his mouth you can try using a good pair of tweezers to carefully take it out.

Investigate this first and feel free to write back to me if you find out anything or nothing at all. I will try my best to help anyway I can.

Best wishes to you and your Blue Texas,
Karen~