Koi surgery ...research project

[Ian_&_Terri]

I was recently contacted and asked the following....

Quote: I am a producer with CBC Radio in Toronto and I am researching a story on fish surgery. As you may know, there is a growing field of research as far as surgical procedures for fish, and I am trying to find a Canadian fish owner whose fish have gone under the knife. There is a vet in Buffalo, Dr. Helen Roberts, who is a pioneer in terms of fish surgery, so I'm wondering if you know f anyone who has thought of using services such as hers, or if there are any vets in Canada who are experimenting with fish surgery.

If Canadian KoiBito members have any input/experiences with their fish under going surgery or know of any vets practicing please post here... I will email this threads link to the producer so she may view your replies.

Not to limit the responsed here I believe any KoiBito member who has had their koi undergo surgery should post to this as it would help with the over all research for this story.

Thank you!

Terri

[PapaBear]

Are you talking about general surgury (removing tumors, cysts, egg impaction, etc...) or plastic surgury, fin repairs? It may get you different resposes.

[Ian_&_Terri]

I should think general surgeries would be the main objective over all ... but it would peek interest to some that people would go to lengths of "cosmetic" surgery for fish

This topic could be an eye opener for many vets here in Canada and hopefully open some doors for hobbyists, very very few seriously entertain the thought of treating fish that are considered pets by the owners.

[Koi Acres]

We have a vet in Minnesota who specializes in fish and has done a couple of surgeries, Auntiesue had one done on her Koi. I'll let her know about this thread & hopefully she will respond.

[keokoi]

Over on KV a moderator Bonita has had koi surgery on her koi. I think she is from NY... Sorry I do not know if many Canadians except you guys and a few on the west coast..

Joe

[Auntiesue]

Yes, we recently had surgery performed on a large Kohaku that we purchased at the Orlando show in 2005. It was a large tumor located in her chest area, between her pec fins and back a bit. Once removed it was the size of a softball. Dr. Amy Keiser (sp) specializes in fish and more specifically in fish surgery. She is also a consultant at our local Mall of America Aquarium display (can't remember the name of it).

Once the tumor was removed Doc Amy noted that her organs, more specifically her liver, was less than 1/2 the size it should have been likely because the tumor was taking up so much space that it crowded the organs. Once we saw the size of the liver, Doc Amy didn't hold out much hope for her recovery, but we decided that since she was in such good health prior to the surgery, that we would give her a fighting chance to recover. Doc said that if she surved the night, she had a little less then a 50/50 chance of making it. If she survived beyond that, every day her chances would improve greatly. We lost her on the 3rd day. There was no sign of infection. I had her in my Q-tank with Elbagin and a some salt to help the healing process. The incision was long because the tumor was so big in order to remove it. What Doc Amy did was to cut her open, and then she carefully and slowly ran her figures around the tumor working her way donw deeper and deeper to make sure nothing was attached or that the tumor wasn't encapsulating any vital organs. Once she was sure the tumor was totally free, she then simply lifted it out. Amazing to watch. She used a pump with water and anestetic (sp) flowing continuously over the gills which keep the fish under for about 45 minutes. She rested the fish in a large tray lined with foam to support the fish upside down. Under the tray sat a bucket from which the water was pumped up through a tube with was placed in the fish's mouth causing the water to flow over the gills. The water then traveled out from the upper tray through a tube the directed the water back to the bucket. But I live in Minnesota, not Canada!!

[bekko]

A member here knows of koi which have had their ovaries removed. Eric Johnson describes resecting goldfish ovaries and doing ballast implants for SBD. None are Canadian.

-stev eh

[Clay]

Hi Terri, nice to see you here. Graham Hawkins is a fellow Canadian, he is up in British Columbia. While I don't know if he has had surgery on his fish or not, he very well might know of someone who has.

Here to your south in Wisconsin we have a very famous fish vet my the name of Myron Kebus. He is the guy given credit for identifing the KHV virus initially. He has done surgeries and many of them. I sent you a pm with Graham and Myron's email addresses so that you can contact them directly.

Good luck with your project.

Rick

[PapaBear]

I don't really know how common the Cosmetic Surgery practice is in N. America. It is more common than I would have thought in Asia. The best pictoral posting I've seen on the topic can be seen here;
http://www.koi.com.my/cgi-bin/koifor...y;so=ASC;mh=25;
This example is a lot more radical than most, but it gives a good example of the techniques used. It was also mentioned in the thread that the topic was covered in the Sept. issue of Koi Carp Magazine.
Another thread that gives info on tools and techniques can be found here. Look for the posts by Eric Lim for the relevant info.
http://www.koi.com.my/cgi-bin/koifor...t=91052;#91052
There was a lot of controversy about the topic (as you will read) but there is also some good info as it relates to your investigation.
BTW, my name on that forum is Larz1

[Ian_&_Terri]

Auntiesue, thank you very much for sharing... and wow!

Hi Clay,... I've already sent this to G, btw he lives on the East Coast. Thanks for the information, appreciate it muchly!

Thank you everyone for popping in with your tidbits of info.... I hope this will help for the piece they are doing at CBC.

Kind Regards,
Terri