Wrasse missing jaw

[Moonrock]

About two weeks ago, I noticed one of my wrasses flipping out in the tank and swimming near the top. I saw him an hour prior and he was perfectly fine but something had just happened to him because I noticed his bottom jaw was now gone. Later that night, he just laid on the floor, I thought he was going to die to be honest. The next morning, I find him buzzing around like normal. I thought I had hours left with him, but he's a fighter. His top jaw was still there at first, but he had a bit of bone sticking out. It looked like two little pieces of bone, almost like fangs. Over time, that skin has started to recede back more and more and the bone is showing more and it seems his top jaw isn't even there anymore. I don't know what to do about it, if I should try to catch him and medicate to stop the skin from receding, or just leave it be. I'm afraid that his open flesh wound is going to continue to get worse since every day it seems like he's missing a bit more skin than the day before, but I also don't want to put the guy through more pain. Honestly I just don't know what to do in this situation so I'm hoping someone here has past experience or has seen this before.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Sorry - just seeing this now.

It does sound like an injury to the jaw that then became infected, causing bone loss.

Can the fish still feed normally? If not, I would consider euthanizing it, as the lost bone will never regrow.

If it can still feed, you then would need to consider treating it with a broad spectrum, gram negative antibiotic in a treatment tank in order to stop the infection.

Overall though, I don't think the prognosis is very good -

Jay

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

@i cant think?

 

[Moonrock]

 

[Moonrock]

Sorry - just seeing this now.

It does sound like an injury to the jaw that then became infected, causing bone loss.

Can the fish still feed normally? If not, I would consider euthanizing it, as the lost bone will never regrow.

If it can still feed, you then would need to consider treating it with a broad spectrum, gram negative antibiotic in a treatment tank in order to stop the infection.

Overall though, I don't think the prognosis is very good -

Jay

I was able to catch him sleeping tonight near the glass so i took advantage of it and grabbed a ton of pictures. hes a fighter, I’ll tell you that. hes made it a month since his injury. I was able to get him eating again by taking mysis shrimp and chopping them up into very small pieces. he basically just swallows them whole. the bone did “dissolve” entirely. if you look at the pictures it looks like straight flesh.

obviously i dont want him to suffer but its a 900 gallon tank so trying to catch anyone, is quite hard. The wrasse still has energy and I just tried catching him but he see’s it coming and moves. I was expecting him to get skinnier but he doesnt seem to have lost much weight so far.

 

[Moonrock]

he just moved again and with the flash light it looks like he has some discoloration in his tail as well? or am I wrong?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

he just moved again and with the flash light it looks like he has some discoloration in his tail as well? or am I wrong?

It looks like there is some scale damage on its right side, near the tail.

If it can still eat enough food to maintain its body mass, and if the infection is stopped, the fish could survive for some time, but it still looks pretty serious to me - exposed bone can be a site for continued infections.

Jay

 

[Moonrock]

It looks like there is some scale damage on its right side, near the tail.

If it can still eat enough food to maintain its body mass, and if the infection is stopped, the fish could survive for some time, but it still looks pretty serious to me - exposed bone can be a site for continued infections.

Jay

any idea what could have caused all this? I also used crushed coral instead of sand. I was thinking that maybe a piece got stuck in his mouth and he tried to remove it and hurt himself.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

any idea what could have caused all this? I also used crushed coral instead of sand. I was thinking that maybe a piece got stuck in his mouth and he tried to remove it and hurt himself.

Sorry, I don’t know what could have caused this - a stuck piece of gravel does sound plausible.

Jay

 

[Moonrock]

Little guy was called up to heaven. found him last night stuck on an MP60. damm it sucks loosing fish, never understood how some people can be so relaxed about losing a fish.