FAT oscar, never poops!

That is one hell of an amazing vet.
I Imagine most guys woudn't know what to do,
or would be afraid to touch it...
....Kodiak

"me" wrote in message
gy.com...
(I wrote the original message about the non pooping oscar)
Well,
I took everyones advice, and treated for dropsy/bloat. No improvement..
plus this has been going on for a year and it sounds like those diseases
end
in death before this much time goes by.
so, a couple of days ago I took my oscar to the vet. The vet squezed the
fat buldge under his tummy and said he's got a blockage. He tried to put
a
tube up his but and discovered that there was no opening. He cut open my
poor fishes gut, and out came almost 1/3 cup poop and snail shells and all
kinds of grose stuff. He sprayed his gut out w/ saline solution and
stitched him up.
Now its two days later and he looks like he is going to survive the
surgery.
Now my FAT oscar has instantly become a skinny oscar. I hope he starts
eating again soon.

Ive got to take him back in a few weeks to find out why his bum hole
doesn't
work. The vet said either the swelling from inside is the reason he
couldn't put a tube in it, or that he had a birth defect that just never
opened up the hole. The vet also said it is completely possible that he
lived his whole life this way and really did throw up to cycle the food
out
of his body. its aparently a fairly straight shot from mouth to butthole
in
a fish, so they can get out bones and other stuff they eat. Once he
started
eating the small snails in my tank the shells were too heavy for him to
expell, and they built up in his gut.

If youve got a fish that you care about, dont be embarrased to take him to
the vet.. sure everyone I know and the receptionist at the vet all made
fun
of me, but at least my pet will be better. The vet took one look at him
and
said its not dropsy, and knew exactly what was wrong! This same vet
grafted snake skin on my injured chameleon a few years ago... and that
worked too!!!! amasing.

How do u take a fish to the vets? Surely it must be horrendously stressful
for them...but then, the fish being ill will be stressful anyway so would it
not make a difference because its already stressed, or is it really risky to
stress an ill fish even more?


"me" wrote in message
gy.com...
(I wrote the original message about the non pooping oscar)
Well,
I took everyones advice, and treated for dropsy/bloat. No improvement..
plus this has been going on for a year and it sounds like those diseases
end
in death before this much time goes by.
so, a couple of days ago I took my oscar to the vet. The vet squezed the
fat buldge under his tummy and said he's got a blockage. He tried to put
a
tube up his but and discovered that there was no opening. He cut open my
poor fishes gut, and out came almost 1/3 cup poop and snail shells and all
kinds of grose stuff. He sprayed his gut out w/ saline solution and
stitched him up.
Now its two days later and he looks like he is going to survive the
surgery.
Now my FAT oscar has instantly become a skinny oscar. I hope he starts
eating again soon.

Ive got to take him back in a few weeks to find out why his bum hole
doesn't
work. The vet said either the swelling from inside is the reason he
couldn't put a tube in it, or that he had a birth defect that just never
opened up the hole. The vet also said it is completely possible that he
lived his whole life this way and really did throw up to cycle the food
out
of his body. its aparently a fairly straight shot from mouth to butthole
in
a fish, so they can get out bones and other stuff they eat. Once he
started
eating the small snails in my tank the shells were too heavy for him to
expell, and they built up in his gut.

If youve got a fish that you care about, dont be embarrased to take him to
the vet.. sure everyone I know and the receptionist at the vet all made
fun
of me, but at least my pet will be better. The vet took one look at him
and
said its not dropsy, and knew exactly what was wrong! This same vet
grafted snake skin on my injured chameleon a few years ago... and that
worked too!!!! amasing.

Well,
I took him to the vet in a 5 gallon bucket w/ a battery powered airpump.
And what Im sure was more stressful than being taken to the vet, was being
taken out of the bucket, held down in a wet towl, and cut open w/ no
warning, and no anesthesia. I bet the vets finger stuck way up in his gut
wasn't too pleasant either.
Oscar looked really bad on the way home... couldn't hold himself upright.
was kind of fading out.. I had to keep poking him to keep him alert. At the
end of the night, back in the medicine tank he had lost most of his color,
and had developed a slimy coat on his body. He still had a hard time
swimming. (Id imagine all the stuff that was taken out of him effected his
boyancy)
A couple of days later, though, he was much better! slime coat was gone,
regained his color, and was swimming normally. A week later he was hungry
and eating.
Now ive stopped medicating his hospital tank and am getting ready to put him
back in the big aquarium w/ his friends. Im just afraid he'll pig out on
snails as soon as he's back in there.
The aquarium is a planted aquarium, and the snails are some sort of trumpet
snails. They actually really helped my planted aquarium. loosen up the
gravel for the plans, and clean the algae off the leaves. I dont see them
durring the day, but at night the place is covered w/ them. They were never
a problem untill they made my oscar sick. Im thnking about getting some
loaches to control the population, but I think Oscar would make a meal of
small loaches, so Ive kind of got a catch22 situation there.


"Sam" wrote in message
...
How do u take a fish to the vets? Surely it must be horrendously stressful
for them...but then, the fish being ill will be stressful anyway so would
it
not make a difference because its already stressed, or is it really risky
to
stress an ill fish even more?

"me" wrote in message
. ..
Well,
I took him to the vet in a 5 gallon bucket w/ a battery powered airpump.
And what Im sure was more stressful than being taken to the vet, was being
taken out of the bucket, held down in a wet towl, and cut open w/ no
warning, and no anesthesia. I bet the vets finger stuck way up in his gut
wasn't too pleasant either.
Oscar looked really bad on the way home... couldn't hold himself upright.
was kind of fading out.. I had to keep poking him to keep him alert. At
the
end of the night, back in the medicine tank he had lost most of his color,
and had developed a slimy coat on his body. He still had a hard time
swimming. (Id imagine all the stuff that was taken out of him effected his
boyancy)
A couple of days later, though, he was much better! slime coat was gone,
regained his color, and was swimming normally. A week later he was hungry
and eating.
Now ive stopped medicating his hospital tank and am getting ready to put
him
back in the big aquarium w/ his friends. Im just afraid he'll pig out on
snails as soon as he's back in there.
The aquarium is a planted aquarium, and the snails are some sort of
trumpet
snails. They actually really helped my planted aquarium. loosen up the
gravel for the plans, and clean the algae off the leaves. I dont see them
durring the day, but at night the place is covered w/ them. They were
never
a problem untill they made my oscar sick. Im thnking about getting some
loaches to control the population, but I think Oscar would make a meal of
small loaches, so Ive kind of got a catch22 situation there.


"Sam" wrote in message
...
How do u take a fish to the vets? Surely it must be horrendously
stressful
for them...but then, the fish being ill will be stressful anyway so
would
it
not make a difference because its already stressed, or is it really
risky
to
stress an ill fish even more?





Toast the snails.. Simple for me to decide.. There is some sort of copper
treatment which will eliminate the snails.. Unless, i suspect the snails
were part of the problem for the blockage.. Is that something you want to
do again? I can't imagine taking an Oscar to the Vet was cheap eithier..

Tim

me wrote:
Well,
I took him to the vet in a 5 gallon bucket w/ a battery powered
airpump. And what Im sure was more stressful than being taken to the
vet, was being taken out of the bucket, held down in a wet towl, and
cut open w/ no warning, and no anesthesia. I bet the vets finger
stuck way up in his gut wasn't too pleasant either.
Oscar looked really bad on the way home... couldn't hold himself
upright. was kind of fading out.. I had to keep poking him to keep
him alert. At the end of the night, back in the medicine tank he had
lost most of his color, and had developed a slimy coat on his body.
He still had a hard time swimming. (Id imagine all the stuff that was
taken out of him effected his boyancy)
A couple of days later, though, he was much better! slime coat was
gone, regained his color, and was swimming normally. A week later he
was hungry and eating.
Now ive stopped medicating his hospital tank and am getting ready to
put him back in the big aquarium w/ his friends. Im just afraid
he'll pig out on snails as soon as he's back in there.
The aquarium is a planted aquarium, and the snails are some sort of
trumpet snails. They actually really helped my planted aquarium.
loosen up the gravel for the plans, and clean the algae off the
leaves. I dont see them durring the day, but at night the place is
covered w/ them. They were never a problem untill they made my oscar
sick. Im thnking about getting some loaches to control the
population, but I think Oscar would make a meal of small loaches, so
Ive kind of got a catch22 situation there.

But, didn't you say you have to take him back to the vet because he doesn't
have a butt-hole? (Love that word hehe)
If I were you I'd keep him in the hospital tank until everything is fixed,
unless he's started pooping in the meantime.
And congratulations on his recovery and to you for taking him to the vet and
to the vet for doing something.

Cindy