Goldfish Operation

Recently, my ranchu, Genghis, developed an aggressive growth on his fin.


The lump began where his pectoral fin joined his body, just below the gill plate, and stretched to the bottom of his fin. 


This started quite innocently, unfortunately due to his colour, it was impossible to photograph.

However, the lump became quite aggressive and grew in size until it was affecting his movement.

At this point, I brought him to a vet, who referred us to a specialist vet, who deals with fish, who was wonderful enough to make a house call to take a look. 
He was of the opinion that operating was the best course of action, however it was quite risky, due to the location of the lump, and due to anaesthesia being required. I would need to make the decision on whether to operate or wait and see.


After much thought and discussion on forums, I made the decision that operating was necessary - which turned out to be the best course of action as the lump then developed to this:

Yuck.


So the arrangements were put in place for Genghis's operation, the vet would come to my house on Saturday morning and anaesthesize, operate, and hopefully Genghis would resuscitate and recover.


The vet set up on our kitchen table while I chased Genghis around the tank with a net ( he became immediately suspicious upon seeing buckets and recovery tanks being set up).

Genghis was given anaesthetic in 6 pints of water (knew my Gussie Goldfish Bowl would come in useful for something eventually) It did take some time for him to eventually go to sleep, but when he did, he went from swimming to floating on his side almost immediately.

On the operating table. The lump is being held in a forceps. 

Cutting the lump off with a scissors. The vet was working very quickly, as the less time he's out of the water, the better.

Remainder of the lump being removed, this was the most nerve-wracking part for me, as it was connected to his fin.

Lump removed, and a bit of bleeding at this point.

Genghis and his lump, for size comparisons.

Cauterizing the wound. This did smell pretty bad :(

Wound cauterized, and Genghis is ready to go into the recovery tank to resuscitate.

The removed lump which is being sent to a lab for a biopsy.




Now, the next tricky part.


Genghis was transferred to a separate tank with an airstone, as the oxygenated water should help him come around.
After a few minutes of floating, we went almost immediately from unconscious to swimming about, so the second riskiest part of the operation was over.

He still has some healing to do, but with clean water and good diet, I hope this will only take a short while.
His fin is still rather weak, as he has not been able to use it properly for a month now, and it will be tender after the operation, but he is already making efforts at using it.

The morning after, already looking much improved.




Overall, an educational experience, but not one either of us want to repeat.




UPDATE 29/06/12


Unfortunately, the tumour reoccurred aggressively, and while it may have been possible to remove, poor Genghis was just too unwell to attempt operating.
On the day the operation was scheduled, he stopped attempting to swim, and was not eating. He had also developed reddened gills, and cataracts on both eyes.
The decision was made that perhaps it would be in his best interests to put him to sleep.
He was anesthesised, and then an additional dose of anesthetic added, so his discomfort was minimised.

Project Goldfish Bowl

Following on from a similar project, I decided to chance my arm ( or Ronnie's fin anyway, plenty of arms about, no point wasting mine) on Project Goldfish Bowl.

Designed to show the unsuitability of goldfish bowls for goldfish, the aim is to create awareness of how a small, unfiltered, plastic space is for a fish that can and should grow to a large size.

So, I set out and purchased a goldfish bowl. Yay!

Gussie Goldfish Home. He makes goldfish fun! Good for him.
Weighing in at a whopping 6 litres, I can apparently put two goldfish in this bowl. Fun!

My blind ranchu Kubla is first in the bowl. To be fair, he didn't really know where he was. Or what it was like. He didn't seem to be having much fun.

Want to go in the bowl Ronnie?

No? Please?

Aw c'mon, its for the greater good?

Okay. How about for food? FOR THE NOMS?

Food it is. Not sure who was manipulated here, but hey, we got there.

How's that? Is it fun yet?

Okay, as you can see, Ronnie is not having fun. He's almost the width of the bowl.
Ronnie is not fully grown. He is just over a year and a half old, and will continue to grow for the rest of his life. The life expectancy of Ronnie's breed of fish is in the region of 10 years.

This is Ronnie attempting to turn in his new home:

Not working out too well. Undignified at least.

 

 

 

'You're not putting this on the internet, are you? :('

 

Even in height, the tank is too small, Ronnie will spend a good portion of his day vertical, rooting in the gravel for any food he may have missed. Not that he would miss it, but still, it keeps him occupied and it's what he does.

So, Ronnie, are you having fun yet?

Screw this, I'm off.

Even though there was still food left in the bottom, he'd had enough.
Goldfish can grow to 12 inches in length. They are massive waste producers. Their waste is extremely toxic, and their water cannot contain waste. Keeping goldfish in bowls stunts their growth, shortens their lives, makes them sick, and makes them very uncomfortable. Don't do it.

New Tank Setup

Contrary to popular belief, goldfish do not live in bowls. The lifespan of a goldfish is 20 years on average, and fancy breeds can grow to 10+ inches, common goldfish can grow to 12 inches.

They grow to the size of their tank in the same way as a kitten will grow to the size of the bottle you put it in. I'm not in the habit of keeping kittens in bottles, so I don't keep fishes in bowls.

So, here are my fishes in their old tank, a 110L.

As the er... gold goldfish Ronnie is growing big, he needs to be in a larger tank, to allow him to swim in a straight line for at least 3 feet.

So, I bought him this:

A 300L tank, at just under 4 feet long.
This should provide him and his tankmates Genghis and Kubla, black ranchus, sufficient space to grow to their maximum potential, and to their maximum lifespan.

The new tank compared to the old tank. We are so getting thrown out of this house.

Now, the crap stuff.

The recommended gravel for goldfish is dorset pea gravel, 3-5mm. Goldfish are bottom diggers, so they'll sift through the stones looking for any food they have missed...this size gravel is too large to swallow, and too small to get stuck in their mouths.
It needs a hell of a lot of rinsing.

It needs to be rinsed until the water runs clear, this took two days of soaking and rinsing. Painful.

End result: two buckets of rinsed gravel.

When putting in gravel, fill the tank some of the way first to cushion the stones.

Gravel in place. Water still a lovely gravelly yellow :/

Filling the rest of the way.

FULL.
I left the water to stand for 24 hours, to remove chlorines, chlorosamines, etc. I then did a 20% water change, adding water conditioner.
Turned the heater on to match the water temp to the old tank (25 degrees).

Now to explain to Ronnie that he's moving...

       Into a 300 litre tank.

The fish move itself:

To establish the bacteria in the new filter, I moved the sponges from the old filter, and crammed them in. This has to be done quickly, to prevent any bacteria die-off.

Also, I syphoned 80 litres out of the new tank, so I could move as much of the old tank water over as possible.

So, the fish were temporarily homed in a plastic storage box, with their old tank water. The filters were removed and crammed in with the new sponges.
The gravel was taken from the old tank, and transferred to the new tank, as the gravel will also hold some of the necessary bacteria. The tank was topped up, temperature checked. and finally, fishes moved across.

Finally, all that's left is to sort out the tank hierarchy.

"SHUT UP!"