Added Fish Before Cycling Complete

[jennybugs]

How have you got on with this? Is the deed done and the fish ok?

I'd advise getting some melafix for the water after doing all that operating...it will speed up healing regardless of you having to cut the fin or not. It will also calm the fish a bit as well - I expect it will get pretty freaked out over what you need to do.

 

[kcharley]

How have you got on with this? Is the deed done and the fish ok?

I'd advise getting some melafix for the water after doing all that operating...it will speed up healing regardless of you having to cut the fin or not. It will also calm the fish a bit as well - I expect it will get pretty freaked out over what you need to do.

Hi Jenny,

Haven't done it yet as it doesn't seem to be bothering him and have been putting up Christmas decorations. I'm thinking tonight or tomorrow tonight. I'll look for a melafix.(Just what I like. Another excuse to go to the LFS. )

I do expect him to get freaked out. He was pretty agitated when he couldn't get loose of the net but calmed down quickly once it was cut. I'm thinking the "operation" will be in a shallow pan with enough tank water to cover his body. I have some extra black pebbles to put in there as he prefers darker areas. Hopefully I can get the trimming done in less than 60 seconds. I'm also going to have a pair of tweezers in case I get down to just one stuck thread of net.

Greg

 

[Schmill]

I'm sure other people who are FAR more knowledgable than me on the subject will be able to help here, but I am certain that there is something you could put in the water, (in the correct small dose), that would 'calm' him down long enough for you to do what you need to do, and then pop him back into 'clean' water to recover.
Don't please anyone shoot me for this, but the thing that sprang to mind was clove oil, however I know that is also used to euthanase fish, so you would want to find out about how much to use etc before starting to mess with that.

Good luck

 

[jennybugs]

Clove oil is indeed used to anaesthetise fish for things like beak trimming with puffers etc. but I have no experience of how to go about it/the doseage to be used.

 

[kcharley]

Hmmm. Think I will try first without a chemical to call him down. As long as the pliers with cushioning can hold his dorsel fin steady for 20 or 30 seconds he should be okay. The little piece of net doesn't seem to bother him so I don't want to risk the cure being worse than the condition. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[Schmill]

My only worry would be that although you will be holding the dorsal fine nice and still you will have a stressed, wriggling , little fish hanging on the underside of it...

 

[kcharley]

The "operation" was a success. The little cory was relieved of his bonnet (Now his head is cold and he is not so festive. ) and kept all of his dorsal.

I couldn't use the needlenose to hold him because even that was too big to fit between the net on his dorsal and his body.

What worked well was I suspended an amber colored glass cooking dish between the front and back of the aquarium. I then filled it with aquarium water about the depth of his body, netted him and put him in. I had to put a little more water in so that the tip of his dorsal barely broke the surface. With that amount of water he settled down quickly. I gave him a few minutes to rest, then I used the tweezers to grasp net. He fought a little at first but settled down quickly. I lost my hold when I tried to transfer the tweezers to my left hand. He didn't run or fight when the tweezers grabbed the net the second time. Because I grasped only net and not his dorsal I could then use the barber scissors to cut the net between the scissors and his dorsal. The first cut took most of the net. He was free again but again didn't resist the tweezers trying to grasp the net. The second cut I basically laid the scissors on the leading edge of his dorsal and trimmed the net again. Again he was free but didn't run or resist the tweezers grasping the remainder and it took me a couple of tries to grasp it. At this point, there was so little net left I couldn't cut it anymore. He struggled a little and I kind of vibrated/trembled my hand and the last of the net came off. He swam around the dish a little and settled down again. I then just tilted the dish so one end was in the water and slid him into the aquarium. He went right back to hiding in the java fern and anubia. ( I had a dickens of a time finding at the start. I have some pennywort bunched together and planted. He was halfway between the bottom and surface between a couple of leaves. Very well camoflauged.)

 

[Schmill]

Congratulations, gald it all went to plan and fairly painlessly for both of you it sounds

 

[Miss Wiggle]

congrats on a sucessful op, not for the feint hearted but sounds like it worked out well.