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Treating Wounds on Large or Medium Sized Fish

by Andy Gordon of England, and Michelle Stuart of Ontario Canada
Reprinted, with permission, from their web site Fishtanksandponds.net
Aquarticles

Sometimes, whether through injury or disease, it is necessary to treat fish with open wounds. This is simple enough with small community fish where the aquarium water could be treated or the fish caught and treated. When a larger much more powerful fish such as a Koi or an Oscar is the patient there is a risk of the fish putting up a violent struggle, risking further injury.

Make preparations
Make sure that you have everything that you are likely to need and put it where it is within easy reach.

Whilst the Koi should be treated carefully and without rushing, because it is out of water it is important not to waste time needlessly because something has been forgotten at this stage.

This photo shows that everything needed to treat a wound left from a fungal infection on a small Koi is laid out ready.

The equipment list for this treatment was:
1. A large net
2. A large bowl where the fish can be anaesthetised.
3. A clean non-absorbent soft surface on which to treat the wound. It is important that wet towelling isn't used because even when wet it will remove the fish's protective mucus coating. Wet polythene is a much better surface.
4. The anaesthetic.
5. The medication and something to apply it with.

Once everything is in place the next stage can begin.

Anaesthetic
The anaesthetic should be measured out very precisely. The anaesthetic in this case was one which is sold over the counter without the need for a prescription.

If you have difficulty obtaining this, the book Interpet-Fish Health states that Eugenol (oil of cloves) will work perfectly well when used at 10 drops per litre. And it has the advantage of causing numbness along with the sedation.

Which ever anaesthetic is used it should be carefully measured out and put in the bowl which has been pre-filled with water from the fish's tank/pond. Once the two solutions have been properly mixed (in the case of Eugenol this is quite difficult because it doesn't readily dissolve in water) we should just double-check the surface is laid out properly, that everything is to hand, and everything else is cleared out of the way. Once this has been done we can move on to the next stage and catch the fish requiring treatment.

Measuring the anaesthetic

Catching the patient
Catching the fish should be done as carefully as possible and causing as little stress as possible, because if the fish gets too stressed it may affect the performance of the anaesthetic making it much harder to sedate. Also the oxygen requirement of the fish will rise very steeply making it harder for the fish to recover afterwards. So use a large net and stealth, and whatever happens don't end up chasing the fish around with a small net until it begins to tire. If that happens it would be better to give up and postpone the treatment.

Catch the fish carefully

The fish has been netted and doesn't even realize until it is out of the water and in the bowl

Sedating
Which ever anaesthetic you use, it is vitally important that you follow the instructions to the letter regarding dosage and time of exposure to the drug. If you don't follow that advice you could very easily end up euthanising the fish rather than treating it, because an overdose of anaesthetic is very often lethal.

To avoid shocking the fish it is also important that water from the fish's environment is used so that it has the same chemistry and temp. of the water that the fish has just come from.

Once the fish has become sedated and is relaxed and lying on its side, it can be lifted out of the bowl and placed on the pre-prepared surface for treatment. If the anaesthetic has done its job the fish will not struggle or wriggle whilst this is done or at any stage of the treatment.

The fish is laid out ready for treatment.

Treating
The fish is laid out ready for treatment. As predicted the fish is completely relaxed and makes no attempt to move, which is safer for the fish and makes treating it much simpler.

As an extra precaution the fish is covered and only the area requiring treatment is left uncovered. Hopefully this will reduce the stress to the fish even more.

It is important at this stage not to rush but instead work methodically and do everything that has to be done so that the process doesn't have to be repeated unnecessarily.

Whenever anaesthetics are used there is always a small risk involved no matter how careful you are.

The wound can clearly be seen.

The wound can be clearly seen and is easily accessible. In this case it is what is left after the fish suffered from a deep fungal infection, and although the fungus has been successfully treated, the wound left behind was treated with a waterproof topical antiseptic which is made for exactly this type of situation and will prevent further complications from a potential secondary infection.

Once the treatment had been carried out the fish was given a quick but intense check over to make sure nothing had been missed.

It was then placed back in the net and held upright in the water near to a spray bar where it recovered within a matter of a minute.

Recovery

The treatment was 100% successful and the wound healed quite quickly without the need for any more treatment. One year on it has remained perfectly healthy.

The end result makes all the effort worth while.

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