Rasbora Het - broken jaw?

[src]

Well, the hits just never stop. Today it's one of my Rasboras - he is swimming around with his mouth wide open, and does not appear to be able to move his jaw. I suspect that he broke his jaw trying to eat one of the MTS I added yesterday.

What's the prognosis? Should I try to let him heal, or is he going to suffer slowly due to not being able to eat?

Caring for fish was a lot easier when I was young and ignorant of their needs - a dead fish just meant a trip to the fish store. Knowledge and responsibility can be a real bummer sometimes!

[joannde]

Originally Posted by src

Caring for fish was a lot easier when I was young and ignorant of their needs - a dead fish just meant a trip to the fish store. Knowledge and responsibility can be a real bummer sometimes!

Yes, but think of how much smarter we are - how much more knowledge we have (ok, trying to find a bright side I guess)

His jaw may just be dislocated and may heal itself. Give it some time before you do anything. I've read articles where people have tried to physically move dislocated jaws into place, but they were larger fish (koi), and the fish ended up fixing itself.

[src]

Well, it's academic now - he died. That's worrying to say the least. He was active before I posted, but did appear to be having trouble breathing. I guess not being able to close his mouth made the process of forcing water over the gills more difficult. He was going to the top some, and swimming around the tank constantly instead of lazing about and taking breaks like the others do.

Just did a large water change just in case there was something I can't test for that would cause problems. Obviously that won't help for a parasitic/bacterial issue, but better safe than sorry.

[joannde]

Oh I'm so sorry

[Zagz]

So sorry for your loss.

[src]

Well, just lost another one to the same problem. It appears to have tried to eat an MTS (or something else unmanagable) during the blackout I did 2 weeks ago. It kept schooling with the others and behaving normally, other than not being able to eat and getting thinner. I was really torn over euthenasia because it didn't appear to be in serious distress, but today it started acting abnormally and I had to give in to the fact that it wasn't going to improve.

I guess I was deluding myself with the hope that the jaw might just be dislocated instead of broken. Is there any chance of recovery from this injury, or should I just deal with it sooner should it happen again?

[Devilishturtles]

I don't think there is a recovery. It is something you can watch for a few days to see if it fixes itself, but other than that....just hope it won't happen again. FWIW, I've lost 3 or 4 rainbows that way. Never had a rasbora get it though. Sorry.