Angel fish lip fibroma

[krekra]

So I have a medium sized black lace veil tail angel fish with with a rather large viral lip fibroma. I am going to try and surgicly debulk it next week. I was wondering if anyone has had any expierience with using MS2222 for an anesthetic agent???

[Rockfish]

I've had limited experience with it, as we usually use Clove Oil, which has a similar effect and some studies even seemed to hint that it caused less stress.

We've had to experiment with amounts of clove oil for different species, using just enough drops to make the fish 'roll over'. Anywhere from a drop per gallon to a drop per litre seems to work for various fish.

Moving them to a fresh container of water of the same temp and encouraging water flow across the gills seems to help revive them more quickly, but it's always a risk of course, and some fish take a while to come round and you begin to worry that they're not going to!

[krekra]

hmmmm well I only need him out for a minute. I am going to just ablate it with electrocautery but I want to do it right. I was reading on an angelfish form that a lot of people dont even anesthatise them. They just hold them and pinch the fibroma off but I really would prefer he not feel it. Also I think the cautery will help prevent possable infection post surgery.

How long does it usually take the clove oil to work??

[Rockfish]

It's pretty quick actually, a matter of seconds really. I guess for a quick op like that, it would be better to err on the safe side so that the fish is only 'sedated' rather than fully under, which should be enough to reduce stress and make handling easier, without the risk of not being able to revive it.

[krekra]

well I will have to decide which to try but I will surely take some photos of the process for all to see.

[Apistogramma]

I hope it goes well and you have a good report for us all.