Evening journal., 1902-12-27
FISH SURGEONS
OPERATIONS
Gives Medicine and Per-
forms With Knife and
Shears


tor, gives medicine, performs surgical
operations and superlntends his pa
tients' diet and environment. These
are the principal operations which he
performs: Trimming the fish's tail with
fish shears when fungous growths en-
large it; stripping the fish TO remove
the eggs or milt that have not been
naturally deposited; excising with the
lance tumors, lacerated scales and
splinters of bone.
Among the medicines that the fish
doctor gives are castor oil for swelling
of the swimming bladder and nux vom-
lea for debility and emaclation. This
specialist also presides over the food
of the fish, inspects their food troughs
thoroughly and makes microscopic ex-
aminations Of their water to see that 1t
contains the proper life giving elements
in their due proportions. Regarding
these matters, which are as important
TO healthy as TO sick fish, the leading
fish doctor OF Philadelphia recently
said: a s4. -
"a food trough OF enameled ware
that will not rust should be used for
fish. At the same time each day their
oatmeal should be put in this trough.
which should always be kept in the
same place, and as a consequence of
this treatment the fish will gather
around their trough at mealtime, which
they will instinctiyely recognize, as
greedily as hogs, burying their noses
in the food when ii is set before them
and .crowding and pushing one another
in a healthy. ravenous and hoglike
manner. The trough should be cleaned
once Il day lest it get sour. but the wa
ter Of the fish should rarely be changed.
Even when il becomes foul smelling it
should only be changed gradually-a
quart day, say-for to change it all
ut once has the effect of terrible ex-
posure-is, indeed, the same as if you
should snatch a child from its warm
bed and lay it naked out Of doors IN the
cold night wind and snow"
1t is not the detention Of fish from
their native element that makes fish
surgery difficult. for they can be kept
out OF the water for five, six and sew
en- minutes without the slightest harm
to them, and there is no operation that
requires a longer space Of time. But
what makes 1t difficult is the disincli-
nation Of the flesh to heal after it has
been cut. A wound to heal requires 10
be dry. Nothing is more deleterious to
it than any sort Of moisture, and hence
the troubles Of q fish wound bathed
and soaked in water all the time. In
evitably, therefore. fish operations are
simple and slight.
One of them is the trimming Of tails
enlarged to' unwiediness by growths
Of fungus. In this work sharp shears,
with blades oddly curved-flsh shears
are employed. The fish is lifted from
the water and held head downward
while its tail is being trimmed. A dex-
terous operator gets through the work
in two or three minutes. There is no
flow Of blood and no gaping wound
that will not heal; hence tail trimming
is in nine cases out of ten successful.
1t must be resorted Ia, often with Jap
anese goldfish, for these costly and
graceful creatures. with their resem-
blance to strange golden flowers, have
tails bigger than their bodies, and when
their tails, as frequently happens, be
come affected with fungus, they are un-
able to swim well, and sometimes, In
deed, they drown. A fish "drowns"
technically when, floating with its head
out of the water, it dies from asphyxia-
ton.
The knife is used on fish to remove
tumors or Iacerated scales or splintered
bones, which. unexcised. would cause
the fish's death. Lacerations Of the
scales are only treated when they are
so severe that the fish without treat
ment would surely die. This operation
is successful in about 80 per cent Of the
cases. The remaining 80 per cent die
because their wounds do not heal.
Stripping is an operation resorted to
when, in the breeding season, the fish,
through some malady or other, does
not deposit naturally its eggs or its
mllt. The patient In this operation is
held with the left hand while with the
right a firm pressure is exerted along
its sides from the breast down to the
tail. Stripping Is the least dangerous
of all the operations in fish surgery.
Admirable results are obtained by
dosing fish with medicines. Castor oil,
for swelling of the swimming bladder,
is a remedy that seldom fails. A fish's
dose OF castor oil is one drop, diluted
slightly. The liquid may be admins
tered either with a spoon or with a
quill toothpick. The process in each
case is similar. The fish is held In an
erect position. its head well up, and the
drlppings from the toothpick or the
contents of the spoon are directed into
its mouth. Sometimes they flow forth
again through the gills, and in this
event the dose must be repeated.
A swollen swimming bladder Is
frequent and dangerous ailment OF
captive fish. Under 1t they become ex
tremely corpulent and unwieldy. AZ
length they turn over and float on theil
backs. Finally they die. But In nine
cases out Of ten one dose Of castor oil
cures this disease in a day. Fish Otter
lose appetites. become thin and veal
and apathetic. Their trouble then 4
stomachic. and nux vomica, with then
Ottirl