Hi, I'm a new member here. I joined because my regular fish forum cannot help me with my oscar's current problem. I hope you all can, and maybe I'll make some friends here to boot!

Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 10 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm

Oscar Behavior: The oscar spooked one night and ran into a tank decoration very hard. Since then he has been lethargic and hasn't eaten for the obvious reason that his jaw is either dislocated or broken. He is however swimming around cautiously, but last night a new development happened--he has acquired a body shudder/shake/hiccup/seizure. Not sure how else to describe it. Was happening about every 15 seconds last night and is now happening about every 2 seconds.

Injuries: Francis (my oscar) smashed his jaw on a decoration and now the jaw hangs crookedly. I followed some advice after doing internet searches and tried to gently massage the bones back in place (through soft cloth so that my skin oils wouldn't get on him). Before the "massage" his mouth was stuck completely open like a yawn. Now it is stuck half open on one side like a stroke victim. There are jutting bones on the bad side and they feel as though they might pierce the skin.

Tankmates: No tankmates.

Tank Size: 55 gallons (his grow out tank, he's moving into a 75 gallon next month). He's only 6 inches.

Equipment: Running no biowheels with current filters but have two HOB filters powered for 55 gallon. Going to switch for better filtration when I get the new tank.

Medications: None

And luckily I have some pictures for you. It's actually WORSE than it looks. I'm pretty sure this is a shattered jaw bone rather than a dislocation.













This fish is very special to me. Please help me help Francis!

Video of him in the net. Not breathing as heavily now.

Welcome to OFL. Sorry to hear about your Oscar.

Okay, this is not something that has ever happened to me before, or should I say my fish. However, a friend of mine broke his jaw and he had to have it wired. I also believe that some injuries are just left to heal by themselves. I would say the same thing would apply to your Oscar. If indeed the Oscars jaw is dislocated or broken, there's not much you can do apart from hope that it heals itself. Hopefully it will heal, however, it might heal crooked and stay like that forever. If you think about it, bones that are broken often heal perfectly okay, however sometimes they don't feel completely straight.

Remember that we're dealing with a fish here, there is only so much you can do for them, it's not like you're treating a dog or a cat.

I'm certainly not a trained veterinarian. For this reason, please don't take my word as gospel, get some advice from a trained vet. Going on forums is all very well, but the problem is, everyone has their own opinion and you quite often get loads of conflict answers.

something similar happened to one of my oscars about 8 months ago. while i was feeding him some shrimp he charged at the food and rammed into the canopy of the tank. his jaw looked similar to your oscars only there was no bone points. it stayed crooked for about a month but now he looks perfectly normal. after the incident he went about 3 days without eating and still doesnt really go for shrimp like he use to.
however to be sure your oscar is ok you should get a professionals opinion on the situation.


btw welcome to the site

Thanks for the replies and welcome, guys.

Well I actually did help him a little. I mean when I found him first his mouth was stuck completely wide open in a yawning "o." I massaged the bones and now half of the mouth closes. I did the massaging twice. The second investigation told me that I would not be able to replace the bones in the joint because they are fractured rather than merely dislocated.

I will be calling a few exotic vets tomorrow but thought I couldn't be the only one whose oscar has done this...since they are prone to freakouts.