Throat obstruction

Yesterday I had a visit from Platy252 and Johnh, as part of his tank inspection Platy’s eagle eyes spotted a Pelvicachromis in distress, it had a Pygmy cory stuck in it mouth with just the end of the tail sticking out.

I only got the pair Pelvicachromis taeniatus \"Dihane\" last week from AV and they were doing great, I put them in a Q tank when I came home, but I had forgotten there were a couple of Corydoras pygmaeus in there since some time ago. We kept an eye on the Pelvicachromis but it was having no luck either swallowing his dinner or spitting it out.

Corys have a defensive mechanism that causes them to lock there pectoral fins out when threatened, we gathered that was what had happened as the Pelvicachromis tried to swallow, that meant that now that the cory was dead it was very unlikely the diner was going to get rid of his dinner.

After a phone consultation we decided to try to removed the cory, otherwise it was felt the Pelvicachromis would be dead by morning anyway. Darren did the surgery with a sterilized long nosed pliers, tweezers and paintbrush! For the operating table we put a clean towel on a plate soaked in tank water and stress coat (about the only good use for this stuff). The tail broke off first, followed by most of the body. The fish had a quick rest at this stage in a small amount or water and tons of stress coat, then it was back in deeper with a tweezers and out came:



Larger version here:
farm4.static.flickr.com/3234/2668488580_28888c65d7_o.jpg

The patient is recovering well, a little quiet, but wouldn’t you be, his tank has been dosed with melafix which wil hopefully deal with any post-op infections.

The video clip is in the video section:

www.irishfishkeepers.com/cms/component/o...d,61/id,36292/#36292

Johnh was on camera duty and I was the shaky lighting technician. Many thanks to Platy252, Johnh and the consultant on the phone - you know who you are


Morale of the story, don’t keep corys with fish big enough to try and eat them!

WOW!!!!! Glad hes ok, great pics!!!!

Eventful weekend you had!

Glad the diner is ok. Pity about the cory

Well done to the surgeon, cameraman, director and the light & sound engineer!

Valerie

WOW,well done everyone

Paul

halllehuuya!!!

I taught i was in for a relaxing afternoon. Not a hope.
I seemed to be pushed forward as the volunteer to remove the Cory. It was a case of \"someone will have to remove it\". You look around and you are the only one standing.

Great camera work John since i was directly in the way all the time. I am surprised you were able to catch any of the action.
Daragh i think you were an usher at a cinema at some stage. The torch was flashing around like you were trying to direct me to a seat or something. (just kidding)
Without the torch i would have been doing it by braile. It would have been imposable to see how far in the Cory was. Been able to see were it was let me know it was to far in to remove it forward through the gills.

Great picture Daragh.

The torch was a last minute idea, I did not get enough time to practise pointing it

You'll note the soundtrack was edited! It is a family site afterall

Patient still doing well doc.

The torch was essential. Other wise i would have been asking you for a lamp.

The inside of the mouth, throat and possibly gills would have gotten slightly damaged. Especially with my shaky hands without my daily alcohol allowance.
I imagine it would be along the same lines as the inside of a humans mouth and throat which heals quickly to any damage.
Just keep an eye on him. I would say he will be fine after he gets over the shock of the whole experience.

Just out of curiosity. What are the chances of him coming across any type of Cory in the wild?

Just been in doing last feed and he was out and about and looking a bit skiiny, I am wondering now if that cory had been in there longer than we thought?? For the ohoto you can see there was no skin left on the head and the eyes were gone too. Guess we'll never know.

Anyway, he looked none the worse for wear and when I put in the white worm he was the first fish in the tank to get one! I wouldn't think he is out of the woods just yet, but he is certainly making great progress - I owe you your daily alcohol allowance.

He would be unlikely to come across a pygmy cory in the wild, he is from West Africa, the cory was from Brazil you're thinking of apistos.

What are the chances of him coming across any type of Cory in the wild?
Are there any Cory's that dont come from south America?

None to my knowledge. Just shows what a melting pot our tanks are, fish from oppisite sides of the world living happlily together - except when they try eating each other.