# Urgent Help Needed Please



## hellsangel (Jan 22, 2006)

HELP!!!!!

One of my red bellied piranhas has a problem with his jaw.. its mouth is permenantly wide open and he seems unable to close it at all.. he cant eat either I have looked closely in his mouth and I cant see anything stuck in there... He is much thinner than his tank mates and I am seriously worried about Him!









Its not fair for the poor guy to suffer like this but I would rather try and fix him before reluctantly sending him to fishy heaven

Any and all help will be appreciated as I really dont want to loose one of my babies









Thanks all

donna


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

hellsangel said:


> HELP!!!!!
> 
> One of my red bellied piranhas has a problem with his jaw.. its mouth is permenantly wide open and he seems unable to close it at all.. he cant eat either I have looked closely in his mouth and I cant see anything stuck in there... He is much thinner than his tank mates and I am seriously worried about Him!
> 
> ...


wow maybe he disloged his jaw. you may need to take him out and relocate it by hand. maybe take him to the vet if you feel uneasy doing so. watch yer fingers tho.


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## hellsangel (Jan 22, 2006)

"wow maybe he disloged his jaw. you may need to take him out and relocate it by hand. maybe take him to the vet if you feel uneasy doing so. watch yer fingers tho."

Yikes!! that sounds like a job for the Hubby or a vet...

A couple of questions please if we are going to try this ourselves...

how long can he be out of the water before he is in trouble?

what is the best way of getting him out his tank without causing too much distress?

what is the best way to handle him once out his tank?

Oh, and, just how much does a piranha bite hurt lol

Thanks again

Donna


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

hellsangel said:


> "wow maybe he disloged his jaw. you may need to take him out and relocate it by hand. maybe take him to the vet if you feel uneasy doing so. watch yer fingers tho."
> 
> Yikes!! that sounds like a job for the Hubby or a vet...
> 
> ...


question 1. Not very long.
#2 net him as quickly as possible
#3 VERY CAREFULLY. keep your fingers out of his mouth. take care not to bend his fins the wrong way and wrap him in a damp towl while your working on him.
#4 Quite alot.


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## hellsangel (Jan 22, 2006)

BlackSunshine420 said:


> "wow maybe he disloged his jaw. you may need to take him out and relocate it by hand. maybe take him to the vet if you feel uneasy doing so. watch yer fingers tho."
> 
> Yikes!! that sounds like a job for the Hubby or a vet...
> 
> ...


question 1. Not very long.
#2 net him as quickly as possible
#3 VERY CAREFULLY. keep your fingers out of his mouth. take care not to bend his fins the wrong way and wrap him in a damp towl while your working on him.
#4 Quite alot.
[/quote]

Thanks guys...

Hubby and I have just got him out the tank and had a closer look.. he had a plastic flower wedged in his throat... we managed to carefully remove the flower but he is still swimming round with his jaw open... His jaw will move up and down when my husband gently pushes it but he doesnt seem to do it himself.. I'm guessing that its perhaps the fact his jaw has been wedged open and is now very sore so he doesnt yet want to move it... what do you guys think???

i do hope it is just that and that he is going to be OK...

Many thanks for helping me and the little snapper

Regards

Donna


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## Mattones (Jul 9, 2006)

how did he manage to do that?, does he swallow instead of chewing?


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## Timmy44221 (Oct 11, 2005)

Pics?


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## hellsangel (Jan 22, 2006)

Timmy44221 said:


> Pics?


These pictures are very blurry but its the best I could manage... any tips on taking pix of fish would be appreciated!

These were taken this morning, His jaw is still open and although He is swimming around happily He seems to be the outcast now and I am worried that the other 6 will turn on him.


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## 911 (Jun 30, 2006)

wow this is one of the first case where i am actually stump

hopefully it really is sore, cheak up tomm and let me know


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## Trigga (Jul 1, 2006)

IMO you should put him inna hospital tank if you have one. This will allow you to better observe him and will be easier for him to heal without being chased around by the rest of his shoal.


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## altimaser (Jul 10, 2006)

I have never heard of that before. You have a very unlucky fish.


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## CROSSHAIR223 (Jan 17, 2005)

altimaser said:


> I have never heard of that before. You have a very unlucky fish.


HAHAHAHA he has the Sarah Carpenter fish. God, I'm going to hell for that


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

This is a first for me too. I heard of plants getting stuck in the anal and sorts but this is highly unusual. If you can feed him a frozen pea it will act as a laxative and maybe whatever else may be in him will pass. Hopefully he'll return to normal soon.


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## hellsangel (Jan 22, 2006)

jerry_plakyda said:


> This is a first for me too. I heard of plants getting stuck in the anal and sorts but this is highly unusual. If you can feed him a frozen pea it will act as a laxative and maybe whatever else may be in him will pass. Hopefully he'll return to normal soon.


Well, we have tried feeding him bits of chopped fish, prawns, flakes, pellets and some peas and he is still unable to move his jaw to bite or chew he goes at the food but cant do anything with it.... it seems that we are going to have to send him on his way to fishy heaven else he is going to slowly starve to death and i really wouldnt want to see that happen to the poor fella









I have no idea how to humanely kill a fish.. I havent had to do it before.... do you guys have any suggestion for a quick and as pain and distress free way of taking care of this....

any further suggestions on ow to save him would be welcomed before we do this but its looking incerasingly like its time to say goodnight to the guy

thanks

donna


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## Morpheus (Feb 12, 2004)

Dont kill him yet P's can go weeks maybe months without food he wont starve in a matter of days. Give it time and see if his jaw gets better. Seperate him from the rest if you're worried he will get picked on by the other fish.
My fish were ill once and I didnt see them eat for about 6 weeks.

Found this in saved topics:

Hope this posts ok......

Jun 30 2003, 05:09 AM Post #4

Obsessed

Group: Members
Posts: 711
Joined: 10-March 03
Member No.: 535

Here's an Oscar that tried to eat a fish too big to fit down his throat. He had it in his mouth for a little over one full day and then I pulled it out. For the next complete day, he could not close his mouth and it was stuck like this, totally open. He was actually still able to eat very small pellets, but I didn't feed him much. After one full day, he went back to normal and appears to be healthy and happy now.

View attachment 114316


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