# My Oscar isn't so good looking anymore....



## Al'Thor (Mar 11, 2006)

I came downstairs late last night to feed the fish, and Odin was dancing around waiting for me to toss in some food when I noticed he was.....ummm......smiling at me. From what I can tell, sometime earlier in the night he smashed himself into one of the rocks in the tank and has almost completely ripped off his upper lip and a portion of his bottom lip. I'm still trying to get a good picture of this, but he isn't too interested in posing for the camera right now. I don't normally subscribe to adding meds to the tank, but this one is severe enough that I added the Melafix/Pimafix combo after doing a huge water change to get my nitrates below 5ppm. One thing is for sure, he's not going to win any beauty contests from now on. In fact, he may end up looking like the fish version of Butthead. :lol: 









I'll keep trying to get a picture of this, and who knows, maybe this thread could help somebody in a similar situation. Oscars are nuts....


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## Al'Thor (Mar 11, 2006)

Well, he's still not feeling too photogenic, so these are the best pictures I could get. What it doesn't really show is the portion of his upper lip on his right side is only hanging on by a strand. Every picture I got seemed to be when this flap was kind of floating in place. Once it falls off, you will be able to see nothing but 'teeth'. There's also a big gap in his lower lip which you can kind of make out in the first pic. It's funny, I've been keeping fish for more than fifteen years, and this is the worst injury any of my fish have had. He will be permanently disfigured for sure. At least I can take comfort that he is still able to eat just fine, and this hasn't killed his appetite. Anyway, here's a couple of pics.


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## Izzydawg (Jan 4, 2008)

sorry to see the injury. I have a tiger oscar that busted his jaw, and it veers off to his right side. We still love him the same, qand it hasn't changed his appetite either. Hope he gets better soon. :wink:


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## RandyFlagg (Apr 23, 2008)

Saw an oscar in a lfs yesterday that had almost no lips at all just teeth, must be a similar situation. He seemed fine other than being goofy looking. Also i have a red texas that smashed into the glass chasing my finger so now her bottom jaw is a bit off( for a few minutes she couldn't even close her mouth) but shes fine now and almost looks normal.


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## Al'Thor (Mar 11, 2006)

Well, it's been a month and he's healed up pretty well. He looks a lot less like Butthead and more like this guy(bonus points awarded for knowing who this is :lol: ):









I'll try to get some updated pictures, but this fish really hates the camera. Just thought I'd let you guys know he's doing a bit better.


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## south coast nelly (Oct 12, 2006)

SHAME Mate but my oscar got beat bad last month by my vieja<sold> its bottom lip was hanging of then fell off, top lip ripped and what looked like teeth underneath and both sides of its body was scraped/scared she was laying on the floor for one whole week and didnt move...we thought she really was going to die!!! now however after daily water changes only shes made a full recovery and looks as good as new<even the lips growing back :dancing:


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## Nick89 (May 26, 2008)

Hope he's ok.. And that appears to be Billy Idol?


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## Al'Thor (Mar 11, 2006)

Bonus point to Nick89! 

Odin is doing much better these days. It seems that being a water change freak has some benefits! :lol: He went from looking like this:

















To this:

















Even I'm surprised at how well he's recovered. You can still see some teeth when you look at him closely from the front, but it's night and day from where he was.


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## Big Vine (Feb 26, 2007)

Recovery looks great, and that sure is a fine looking tiger right there! 8) 
BV


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## BlackShark11k (Feb 16, 2007)

He's lookin' way better! :thumb:


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## Gary Biggs (May 28, 2008)

hey al'thor,
kinda getting in on this late I guess. Just joined. But yeah, that was probably nasty glad to see he's ok. And do I get my points too, for the billy idol thing, lol. I've got a 1ft and change female albino. She's a big dork too, gotta lover her.lol But I've had fish do that too, and I have a cylindricus male in a breeding pair that broke his jaw. So he's got that billy idol thing going on permanently. lol But, healthy, well again, and still breeding. So, with good water conditions, and proper care and attention when it first happens. They seem to get over it, heal, and move on. Their all pretty hardy, if they have the right conditions, and time to heal. Good to see he's ok again. Peace, and good luck with your big dummy. lol Gary


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## hitme455 (Jun 22, 2008)

wow


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## terd ferguson (Jul 31, 2007)

How's he looking now? Last shot appears as if he's dancing with himself.


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## Al'Thor (Mar 11, 2006)

terd ferguson said:


> How's he looking now? Last shot appears as if he's dancing with himself.


It is truly amazing what being a water-changing psychopath can do. :lol: He is nearly completely healed now. I've been meaning to update this thread, and somehow I just kept forgetting. Thanks for the reminder. Here he is as of last week.

Behold......Odin!


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## Big Vine (Feb 26, 2007)

Odin looks as good as new! :dancing: 
BV


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