Goldfish bit off more than he could chew :(

[stellablu]

One of my Orandas ate, or at least partially ate, an Albino Corydora. I thought the Cory was dead when I moved the goldfish in, I guess not.

The problem is, the Cory is kind of, well, sticking tail end out of my Orandas mouth. Go figure that this is my favorite Oranda that would go and do this.

I tried lightly tugging at it to no avail. Am I left to believe that he is simply going to choke and die? Is there anything I can do to prevent this???

 

[Vip]

Sam€ thing happ€n€d to my Oscars, i grabb€d him of th€ tank and put him on a w€t tow€l and th€n i push€d th€ fish down his throat and g€ntl€ as i could mak€ing sur€ i just h€lp€d him with it and not forc€d it down.

 

[stellablu]

So I'd rather help him out then take it out?

 

[black angel]

the thing with cories is that they have sharp spines on the dorsal fin and i think the pectoral fin has them too so any attempt to pull it will embed the spines even further. if you can get him in the towel and get a pair of tweezers and see if you can twist the cory but theres not much hope of getting the cory out alive if it is still wiggling. i wouldnt push the cory further down as this will choke the gf.
i think the best thing to do is take the fish to a vet where they can get the cory out piece by piece. good luck.

 

[stellablu]

As awful as it sounds, I'd much rather save the Oranda who is 5" and I've had for MUCH longer, than save the Cory.

I just called five local vets and none of them work with fish...I mean, wow. I am thinking I can take a drop or two of clove oil in a container with tank water and set the Oranda in it. Let him take a nap then wriggle the Cory out, even if it is piece by piece Then place the Oranda back in fresh water and wait for him to wake back up. This way I won't have to fight the Oranda wriggling as well. Yeah?

I've had to put a puffer under for dental surgery before and he was MUCH smaller than the Oranda.

 

[mhoward1999]

I have no clue about the clove oil thing, but if I were you, I would catch the oranda, and use a pair of hemostats to crush the cory up and then get him out. I know it sounds gross, but it's the only way I can think of. You can slide the hemostats in beside the cory all the way (as deep as you think he is in the oranda) and then clamp down very quickly, thereby crushing/killing him. Then open the hemostats, rotate them, and repeat. Keep doing this until the cory can be removed without putting significant pressure on the oranda. HTH!

 

[black angel]

try to snip the fins off the cory first and then take out the main body. the fins should then be able to be pulled out. good luck.

 

[stellablu]

All better!

I put two drops of clove, and waited ...he was still kicking. I put in three more gradually and he was still acting somewhat normal. Five drops of clove calmed him but didn't put him under, which is fine because at least he wasn't flipping out while I had a sharp instrument by his face.

I tried turning the Cory but all that happened was that I ended up ripping his tail end from his head. Erm...kind of weird. However, I was able to grab the other half and twist it out.

At that point I think the clove FINALLY kicked in, we're talking after 20 minutes instead of a couple, and he had slowed breathing and movement. I was actually worried for a wee bit. He came around after 10 minutes of steady watching. Five minutes later I put him back.

His mouth is agape, but he is more and more active and of course, looking for something to eat, by the moment.

Thanks for your advice! I want to watch him but I'm supposed to be leaving town for the weekend, maybe Mom can peek in and see how he's doing.

Thanks again!

 

[black angel]

i will remember what you have done to help others on another forum. great bit of surgery

 

[dolly_daydream]

hi
be careful with the clove oil its usually only used to euthanize a fish..your very lucky your fish survived

 

[smithrc]

hi
be careful with the clove oil its usually only used to euthanize a fish..your very lucky your fish survived

its used all the time to make fish dozy.. just ask the puffer owners that trim their teeth.

On a side note.. are you going to seperate the cold water fish from teh tropical fish?

 

[dolly_daydream]

hi
be careful with the clove oil its usually only used to euthanize a fish..your very lucky your fish survived

its used all the time to make fish dozy.. just ask the puffer owners that trim their teeth.

On a side note.. are you going to seperate the cold water fish from teh tropical fish?

uh??i dont have coldwater with tropical,,i have 5 tanks of tropical and 3 of coldwater here ill post some pics to prove it..

 

[dolly_daydream]

next one..these are peacock ells on a sandy bottom

 

[dolly_daydream]

coldwater tank

 

[dolly_daydream]

as you can see coldwater tank is gravel bottom my tropicals are sand bottom..only reason i mentioned clove oil is my vet told me not to use clove thats all,,dont know anything about puffers so i cant comment on that one,i have a tablet from my vet,which i put in my water and it knocks the fish out.