My red Tiger Oscar,Benny,is about 4 1/2" long and he has quite a bit of an appetite. Last night he swallowed my plecostomus that is about 1 1/2" long and now after 12 hours he still hasn't digested it. His mouth is stuck in a open position and the tail is sticking out halfway. We took a net and scooped him out and tried to remove as much of the plecostomus from his mouth as we could,but it is lodged pretty good. Do I wait for him to try and digest it or what can I do to help him? I love my Benny and really don't want to lose him!!

welcome to OFL

Don't worry, this happens all the time. No small fish are safe with Oscars present.

www.oscarfishlover.com/index.php/compone...3/id,49/page,inline/

Anyway, that's quite a long time for it to have it stuck in its mouth, it probably will have because it will have to chew it up first. I put two bristlenose catfish in my tank and one of my Oscars try to eat one of them but couldn't because it was too big, so he spat the carcass out. I never found the other one so I'm assuming they did manage to eat it.

I think you're going to need to take this dead fish out by your self if this carries on for too much longer. If you don't, the Oscar is going to very distressed which can lead to death is stressed out too much. You'll probably need something like a pair of needle nose pliers. They're quite narrow so you can put them down the fishes mouth and grab any obstructions.

I think you're going to have take the bull by the horns here.if you feel you can't do it, or you're not getting anywhere, you might have to call the vet to do it, or just pop the fish in the bucket and take it down. Alternatively, if you know somebody who is used to picking up fish, they may be able to help

Thank you so much for your input!!!! I did indeed get Benny out of his tank and wrapped him in a silky wet peice of material so as not to harm him. I then took a pair of cuticle scissors,which are small and pointy and was able to cut the dorsal fin of the pleco which made the whole skull release out of my Benny's mouth! Thank goodness!!!!!!! Now I just have to hope that he heals well,for in the process of him trying to digest the pleco he seems to have overstretched his mouth open. I purchased an antibacterial solution that I've added to his tank in hopes of helping him heal and I'm keeping his light off in the tank so that he may rest up. The next few days should let me know if he's going to be all right. I never knew I could be so attached to a fish,but I definately am!!!!!Thank you for such a site!!!!

I can't see that there would have been any damage caused by him trying to swallow the Pleco. However, I think you're being sensible as your Oscar could well be stressed after his ordeal

Wow! good work Annete A! Hope Benny heals soon.

Pepe
Santo Domingo

Benny is doing all right now, but I've been wondering if his mouth is ever going to close back up or if this is a permanent side effect of our near disaster. Have you ever had any experience with such a thing before? Do you know if he will eventually be able to close his mouth?

a long time ago i kept kio carp in a pond. one got a bee sting in the month that swelled to a very large size.fish couldnt breath and was very bad. I removed the sting and treated fish with pills (antibacterial) It took about 2 wks for swelling to go down but all was ok. this is a little diff to your fish but a soft tissue wound can heal but will take time. i would wait and see. the only thing I would add is are you sure there was no jaw damage when you removed plec.?? you done a great job getting it out by the way. well done.