Tanya in Moncton NB
Sep 3rd 2007, 08:27 PM
I have an adult female congo tetra that had something caught in her bottom teeth for about a week now. It looked like some spirulina pellet but I wasn't too sure.
She isn't looking healthy, her skin is looking patchy and she was having trouble eating.
She's a fish with teeth and this growth was on her teeth, inside her mouth so she couldn't close it completely.
If you would have seen the growth you would see that it needed to come off. The poor fish couldn't catch any food since it would just bounce off this growth. She was soo thin compared to my others and I figured I didn't have much time before she starved. I just had to do something to help her before it was too late. I figured I didn't have too much to loose since I was probably going to find her dead soon.
First I caught her, held her gently while in the net still half submerged...I took a paperclip and poked at her bottom teeth to try to floss! (Please don't laugh at me! http://www.eastcoastaquariumsociety.ca/forum/img/smilies/lol.png)
Anyway, it wouldn't come off! It was definetely somekind of green growth.
I posted on another site and was told it cold be saprolegnia. (This is a fungus and it's quite common for it to get algae in it, giving it a green fuzzy appearance.)
Yesterday, I decided to perform dental surgery on her. I netted her and put her in some water with a few drops of clove oil. She wasn't going asleep so I added one more drop...after awhile she was calmer but still not out completely...I figured that might be as good as it gets without killing her!
So I put her on a wet paper towel, and she was still moving a bit. I put a layer of wet towel over her and cut her bottom lip off! Poor fishy!! It had to be done because she couldn't close her mouth anymore...I dabbed some Iodine on it with a Q-tip, and I can tell she felt it. Ouch!
Then, I grabbed her gently with my fingers and layed her in the QT tank with Fungus tablets added to the water. :wideeyed:
She's layed on her side on the bottom and her gills opened up once in a while...It was painful to watch and I really didn't wnat to kill her. http://www.eastcoastaquariumsociety.ca/forum/img/smilies/sad.png I had a feeling that if I didn't do something to her teeth/mouth she would't be able to eat and eventually I would have found her dead!
She's swimming today but didn't eat any food today :( She's swimming but a not normally. She seems to be having a hard time and she's not interested in any food...it's like she doesn't see it even if it's right in front of her.
She's got a red lip today...no wonder!
I still can't believe I did this! lol
Well I should clarify...I didn't cut her hole lip off.
I opened her mouth with tweezers and cut the teeth/growth part off. It did damage her lip a bit though, her bottom lip is now split in 2. Poor fishy! It was quite hard to remove!
If she can pull through, I think it will heal and she should be able to eat now.
She's a fighter!
The green line shows approximately where I cut and the green blob was the size of the growth.
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e211/craftythumbs/congo.jpg
Just wanted to share my story! We don't hear of fish dental surgery every day! :;):
She isn't looking healthy, her skin is looking patchy and she was having trouble eating.
She's a fish with teeth and this growth was on her teeth, inside her mouth so she couldn't close it completely.
If you would have seen the growth you would see that it needed to come off. The poor fish couldn't catch any food since it would just bounce off this growth. She was soo thin compared to my others and I figured I didn't have much time before she starved. I just had to do something to help her before it was too late. I figured I didn't have too much to loose since I was probably going to find her dead soon.
First I caught her, held her gently while in the net still half submerged...I took a paperclip and poked at her bottom teeth to try to floss! (Please don't laugh at me! http://www.eastcoastaquariumsociety.ca/forum/img/smilies/lol.png)
Anyway, it wouldn't come off! It was definetely somekind of green growth.
I posted on another site and was told it cold be saprolegnia. (This is a fungus and it's quite common for it to get algae in it, giving it a green fuzzy appearance.)
Yesterday, I decided to perform dental surgery on her. I netted her and put her in some water with a few drops of clove oil. She wasn't going asleep so I added one more drop...after awhile she was calmer but still not out completely...I figured that might be as good as it gets without killing her!
So I put her on a wet paper towel, and she was still moving a bit. I put a layer of wet towel over her and cut her bottom lip off! Poor fishy!! It had to be done because she couldn't close her mouth anymore...I dabbed some Iodine on it with a Q-tip, and I can tell she felt it. Ouch!
Then, I grabbed her gently with my fingers and layed her in the QT tank with Fungus tablets added to the water. :wideeyed:
She's layed on her side on the bottom and her gills opened up once in a while...It was painful to watch and I really didn't wnat to kill her. http://www.eastcoastaquariumsociety.ca/forum/img/smilies/sad.png I had a feeling that if I didn't do something to her teeth/mouth she would't be able to eat and eventually I would have found her dead!
She's swimming today but didn't eat any food today :( She's swimming but a not normally. She seems to be having a hard time and she's not interested in any food...it's like she doesn't see it even if it's right in front of her.
She's got a red lip today...no wonder!
I still can't believe I did this! lol
Well I should clarify...I didn't cut her hole lip off.
I opened her mouth with tweezers and cut the teeth/growth part off. It did damage her lip a bit though, her bottom lip is now split in 2. Poor fishy! It was quite hard to remove!
If she can pull through, I think it will heal and she should be able to eat now.
She's a fighter!
The green line shows approximately where I cut and the green blob was the size of the growth.
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e211/craftythumbs/congo.jpg
Just wanted to share my story! We don't hear of fish dental surgery every day! :;):