chriscoli
Administrator
I was in the fishroom yesterday when I noticed one of my adult male Ptychochromis oligacanthus (very awesome Malagasy cichlid http://www.cichlidae.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5833) with something hanging out of his mouth. On closer inspection, it turns out to be the back half of a pandy cory.
(sigh)
So I wait, and watch....the Ptychochromis isn't panicked, but he's obviously not happy either. And the cory is clearly dead.
So, do I wait? or do I intervene? I REALLY like the Ptychochromis and would be really pissed if I lost him....so I decide to intervene.
I netted the Ptychochromis out and left him partially wrapped in the net and then wrapped in a wet towel outside of that and kept just his head sticking out so I could work on it.
Then I opened his mouth to inspect. Yep, just as I had feared, spines from the cory are protruding out one cheek and another one under his chin.
I was able to clip the spine from under his chin off from the outside but had to reach inside the Ptychochromis' mouth with a small pair of scissors to clip the cory's pectoral fin off which was the spine protruding from his cheek.
Once those were off, I was able to back the spines the rest of the way out and remove the cory.
The Ptychochroms is back in his tank and looks no worse for his adventure. I'll be keeping an eye out for any sign of infection, but his jaw seems fine. I was concerned I might have dislocated it in the attempt to remove the cory since at one point I had a pair of scissors and a pair of fine-tipped tweezers in there at the same time.
(sigh)
So I wait, and watch....the Ptychochromis isn't panicked, but he's obviously not happy either. And the cory is clearly dead.
So, do I wait? or do I intervene? I REALLY like the Ptychochromis and would be really pissed if I lost him....so I decide to intervene.
I netted the Ptychochromis out and left him partially wrapped in the net and then wrapped in a wet towel outside of that and kept just his head sticking out so I could work on it.
Then I opened his mouth to inspect. Yep, just as I had feared, spines from the cory are protruding out one cheek and another one under his chin.
I was able to clip the spine from under his chin off from the outside but had to reach inside the Ptychochromis' mouth with a small pair of scissors to clip the cory's pectoral fin off which was the spine protruding from his cheek.
Once those were off, I was able to back the spines the rest of the way out and remove the cory.
The Ptychochroms is back in his tank and looks no worse for his adventure. I'll be keeping an eye out for any sign of infection, but his jaw seems fine. I was concerned I might have dislocated it in the attempt to remove the cory since at one point I had a pair of scissors and a pair of fine-tipped tweezers in there at the same time.
