Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1902-12-27
FISH SURGEON.

FISH SURGEON.
OPERATIONS WHICH HE PERFORMS
UPON HIS PATIENTS.
knife and Shears Are Used, and the
F1ssh May he Kent Ont OF Water
From Fixesto Seven Minntes-How
Medicines Are Administered.
The fish doctor, like the regular doc
stor, gives medicine, performs surgical
operations and superintends his pa
tents diet and environment. These
are the principal operations which he
performs: Trimming the sfsh'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; excisiag with the
lance tumors, laeerated scales and
splinters Of bone.
Among the medicines that the fish
doctor gives r castor oil for swelling
Of the swimming bladder and nux vom-
lea for debility and emaciation. This
specialist also presides over the food
Of the fish, inspects their food troughs
thoroughly and makes microscopic ex-
aminations Of their water to seeSthat it
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:
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 ~instinctively recognize, as
greedily as hogs, burying their noses
In the food when it is set before them
and crowding and pushing q another
In a healthy, ravenous and hoglike
manner The trough should be cleaned
once a day lest it get sour, but the wa
ter Of the fish should rarely be changed.
Eyen#when it becomes foul smelling it
should only be changed gradually-a
quart a day, say-for to change it all
at once has the effect of a 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 q 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 it difficult is the disincli-
nation ofsthe flesh to heal after it has
been cut. "A wound to heal requires to
be dry. Nothing is more deleterious to
it than any sort OF moisture, and hence
the troubles Of a fish wound bathed
and soaked in water all the time. In
evitably, therefore, fish operations are
simple and slight.
One Of them lis the trimming Of tails
enlarged to; unWieldiness by growths
Of fungus. In this work sharp shears,
with blades oddly Observation-Disclosures
are employed. The fish is lifted from
the water and held-head downward
while its tail is being trimmed. a dex-
ferrous operator gets through the work
In two or three minutes. There is nc
How Of blood and no gaping wound
that will not heal; hence tail trimming
ID In nine cases out of ten successful
tt must be resorted to often with Jap
anese goldfish, for these costly and
graceful creatures, with their resem.
blance to strange golden fowers,tshaye
tails biggersthan their bodies, and when
their tails, as frequently happens, be
come affected with fungus, they are I'M
able to swim well, and sometimes, In
deed, they drown, a fish ttdrowns'
technically when, floating with its head
out Of the water, It dies from asphyxia'
tion.
The knife is used on fish to remove
tumors or lacerated scales or splintere6
homes, which, unexcised.sWould caus
the fsh's death. ~Lacerations Of The
scales are only treated when they arr
so severe that the fish without treat
ment would surely die. This operation
is successful in about 20 per cent of tn
cases. The remaining 80 per cent sdit
because their wounds do not heal.
Stripping is an operation resorted Z
when, In the breeding season, the fish
through some malady or other, doe
not deposit naturally it's eggs or IL
milf. The patient In this operation 4
held with the left hand while with tn
right a firm pressure il exerted alont
its Sides from the breast down to tn,
tail. Stripping ID the least dangerou'
Of all the operations in fish surgery.
Admirable results are obtained =.
dosing fish with medicines. Castor OIL
for swelling Of the swimming bladder
iss a remedy that seldom fails. fisns
- $500 nsr4fe, D,An dion dfIl1fnf