Someone nearby bought a jardini from a lfs with gill curl. He's now ready to get rid of it. He says it's really bad. I'm going to pick it up from him today. I just cleared a 30g just for him. He says he's 4". I'm going to watch him for a week or so to see how much the gill curl is affecting him. If he seems to REALLY need it, I'm going to try to trim it. Since he's small and I've already got some, can I use clove oil to put him out for it? I've heard of it being used for puffers, but not fish. What should I put on the areas that I cut afterwards and where can I get it??

Thanks
Daniel

No ideas with the clove oil???

He's in the tank now. He seems like he's ok with the curl, but it doesn't look good that's for sure. I'll see how he does before I decide if the surgery is a go or not.

i think that you can use clove oil for fish

http://www.oscarfishlover.com/content/view/22/42/

A good read. I know it can be used to euthanize fish.. but I want to make sure it's ok for a jar aro. I assume it can be.

Dan,
I would highly suggest not using clove oil for anesthesia. There is more of a chance you will kill the fish then knock it out. MS-222 is the standard for this and is the safest to use.

only problem is that MS-222 (aka tricaine) is a controlled substance (or at least very hard to get in most places outside organizations that normally deal with anesthetizing fishes, etc).

i agree that trying to tranq a fish that small isn't a good idea all the way around, i've done it with thousands of small fishes, but there was always some mortality in the beginning as you're experimenting with the mixture.

i would suggest just lowering the temp a bit to the low end of tolerance for a day or a few hours before you want to trim the fish...this should at least slow down the metabolism a bit and make it easier to perform the procedure. in the end, with a lot of these more primitive fishes, it's better not to use anything and just do the procedure as opposed to knocking them out and risking unneeded trauma or fatality for the fish--
--solomon

I'll see if I can come across something else. I had the clove oil for my puffer, so I thought it would be ok. We'll see. I don't want to do it at all unless he REALLY needs it. I got him for next to nothing. So I wouldn't feel too bad if he died while I was trying to trim it if I thought he really did need it.

Thanks Sol as I was writing in haste...

I never said it would be easy to use MS-222 just that it is better than clove...And yes there are issues in using MS-222. This is the standard fish anesthesia and should be your first option. I'm not however saying you should be the person administering it or doing the procedure. I would suggest a vet or trained individual qualified with this to work on it.

Use an air stone and a CO2 tank and pump in CO2 for anestesia it's how we work with salmoniods and trout when milking in the fall. Then just put them back in tank with O2 and they revive.

Any comments on that method?