Electric Yellow wish MAJOR jaw issue. Need solid help/advice, have footage

E

electric yellow

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Sep 6, 2010
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Hello fish people. I am new to this site. Posted in the past but forgot that id so here's one from scratch

I have a full grown 7 inch electric yellow that i've tank raised since he was an egg, and i'm out of my mind here trying to help him but he keeps getting worse

he had a broken or dislocated jaw a month and a half ago. major bruising on the lower lip, jaw off to the side. read lots of google forums and nothing definitive. This i believe caused by the baby plecos that keep trying to hook onto him like those suckers that attach themselves to sharks. this freaks him out, but he's too gentle to try to hurt them even though he could technically eat them, and they're fearless

I took him out and tried to gently squeeze his jaws into place to no avail. he kept getting red splotches on him which kind of implied to me, internal injuries. i tried this a few times within a few weeks.

It's been a few weeks since the last attempt and hoping it'd fix itself isn't working. it's gotten WORSE. his lower jaw looks disintegrated. just bits of flesh. there must have been some major damage to his lower jaw area, real bad.

I took film of this. what are my options at this point? i am thinking of tonight, cleaning up some mini needle nose pliers w/rubbing alcohol and doing what i can. but of course i have no idea what i'm doing even though i have decent common sense. you can no longer see IN his mouth when he breathes. it's just all nasty torn flesh, it's very disgusting

on a side note he hasn't eaten in 4 months prior to today. so even before his injury he put himself on the Malawi diet. I read that's very common, but he sure as heck won't eat now

also, two weeks ago, to add to this issue, he had MAJOR popeye, in his one good eye (his left). found that was bubbles related so took all airstones out and bam it fixed it up right away.

Here is a video of the situation i took just for posting on this forum. I really hope i get some good advice but i realize this is a tough one.

I hate to see him suffer like this. Part of me wants to put him out of his misery but i can't

No he has no aggressive tank mates. Just clown loaches, baby plecos, and a baby female electric yellow

water is great condition. If you don't know an answer but you know of a great fish technician on this site, and can maybe fwd the link of this thread to him/her, i'd appreciate it. Hope everyone is having a better labor day than me. Thanks in advance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ1uyCeTQnU

:thud:
 
I cannot find anything, I am so sorry. I thought mouth rot, but it is not. At least no what I could find. I am so sorry. I will keep researching...

You know, it might be some sort of septicemic infection like flesh eating bacteria or SARS in humans...

The best thing may be to take him out, trim the hanging flesh and see how he does. If he cannot feed you may have to euthanize him.

Like I said, I am going to keep looking and try to find something for you.

Maribeth
 
You have some real big issues here. Electric yellows don't get to be 7" unless it's a hybrid. Secondly, a 4 month fast is not possible. Two months maybe, but not 4. Next, if the jaw is disintegrating you have a serious infection that needs medication. You may, (or may not), have created a worse problem by trying a "fix". It is evident that the infection settled into the jawline and is continuing to further exacerbate the problem. From the looks of things, bone structure has been lost and it is too far gone with the most humane option being euthanasia.

Exactly what has caused this would be hard to determine without a biopsy. Sorry I can't give you better news.
 
Thank you very much for the concern and looking around for me. I do not believe it to be mouth rot. unless that somehow developed from the injury. it was 100% a tank injury. a bad one. the bone i believe pushed through his lower jaw and everyday use of that jaw in things like basic breathing made it get worse and worse. i just tried just now to do SOMEthing with small pliers. i could see a bone not supposed to be there sticking out of the hole that was his lower jaw. major, major bone issues from the injury. ugh... now he seems to be near death :( when i put him back in the tank he floated slow and i tried to net him back and forth to give oxygen and he isn't come out of it. he is on the tank bottom, barely breathing. Just checked again with the net to nudge him. i'm almost positive he either dead now or 99% dead. :(

i promise to update here soon
 
sorry to differ but he was a full bred electric yellow as u can see (i had his parents since he was egg raised, trust me on this) that is seven inches. i understand the rarity of the size. head to tail, 7. also, he did fast for 4 months. it could have been more. one time, i saw him take in a single flake but i paid attention each feeding time. I have heard from multiple sources including my trusted fish store owner that 3 months fasting for a malawi is very common. the jaw injury happened around the 3 month mark

anyway, he appears dead. a small part of me is relieved due to the suffering for so long but it still sucks real bad. thanks guys for trying to help me. i'm gonna go cry now

take care
 
Sorry you lost him. And BTW, I breed them so it's not like I am giving you a flippant answer. I never suggested mouth rot and wouldn't consider it as it doesn't fit the profile. I believe there is a bacterial infection, but source of which is not apparent unless I have taken too much for granted. I suppose it could be viral but that would likely take out the whole tank. I think you need to keep close tabs on water quality for the next month and make sure you maintain weekly 30% or greater water changes.
 
Thanks. i've kept tabs on 8 of his brothers and sisters since that 'litter' went to friends. they're all around 4 - 5 inches now, full grown. this one just grew unusually large. he was the brightest of the 200+ eggs from a 'baby'. every single little yellow in that litter looked 100% electric yellow. if there was hybrid in one of his parents, neither showed it, nor the siblings, however anything is possible.

i believe the tank is sound, but thanks i will keep an eye out. aside from staying on top of water quality, i have an old "toughie" goldfish in there. (little yellow feeder fish) for weeks i thought he must be on his last day. two years old he is. blind almost, skin with age spots everywhere. i feel he is a good barometer for bacteria and other aliments, as his aged immune system would surely make him the first to go in a tank full of young healthy loaches. but he's fine. nevertheless i will keep an eye out. though half of me just wants to quit the fish game altogether and just give them all away now. i'll sleep on it tho
 
Well don't quit now. You won't be making his death worth anything. You can use what he went thru as a barometer to watch in other fish. A Goldfish (coldwater) doesn't belong with tropicals, but that isn't the issue. Your description makes me believe that he too is suffering the effects of something possibly toxic since they can easily live 20. He may have been on his last legs ( ? ) when you got him and if he keeps you informed on tank conditions. . . .

Yeah, it sux to lose any regardless of cause and does make you want to toss in the towel. Stick it out and learn from it. Good luck.
 
are you familiar with a "toughie" goldfish? i know that's slang. these: http://www.chaplinshouse.com/toughie.JPG they're feeder fish u buy for 10 cents a pop. i'm told they tend to live a year, unlike a real goldfish which can live decades

i got the feeder fish for my now dead yellow. not to keep as pets. figured he needed variety in his diet. he bit one's head off, then acted all depressed, went in the corner for days. he never ate a live fish after that and all the feeder fish grew to full grown and eventually died of old age. all except the two i have now which have age spots on them and their skin looks much older too. is it not true these types of feeder fish live a year or so only?

i do love the personalities of these loaches. how they lay on their sides at the bottom of the tank like people, never fight, always cuddle with each other. so yeah i'm sure i'll stick it out. i guess it's normal to want to swear off pets after a death. thanks
 
Feeders aren't the best stock to begin with and generally are a bad choice to use as a food fish for most species of fish but seem to be ok for other aquatic and semi aquatic species. I have heard of them living quite long but have yet to hear of one living 20 years. I know nothing of loaches nor really care to learn at this time. Maybe one day . . . Right now I am working on too many things at once (for me) and need to be very selective about my interests. Trying to concentrate on fish, fish disease, and a couple of other projects is all I can handle right now. Who knows where I'll be a year or two from now?

Good luck!
 
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