My red tail catfish ate a suction cup that was used to hold my heater to the glass. I’m pretty sure that it’s already past the thing at the back of his mouth and towards the digestive track. I can feel it in his stomach. Please I need help.
Can I please get help!!!
- Thread starter Shadow fisher
- Start date
Hello; The simplest thing is to let it alone and hope the object will pass or the fish will puke it out. The risk is it will cause a blockage. I do not know if you have another less risky option. Not sure if a vet could do a surgery.
Can you give a size of the object? Is it made of silicone or hard plastic or something like that? Does the object have sharp edges?
Can you give a size of the object? Is it made of silicone or hard plastic or something like that? Does the object have sharp edges?
It’s a small suction cup to hold my heater for my tank. I think it’s maybe made of silicone or plastic? And no it doesn’t have any sharp edges I’m sure.
Hello; The silicone is likely going to be inert although I do not have real knowledge of that. Being soft and without sharp edges ought to mean it will not tear the gut lining. Here is another unsupported guess, that the object appears to have actually gotten into the digestive track might indicate it is small enough to pass. There is another active thread on the same issue. That member's cat has an object back in the throat for a couple of days. seems it may be too big to swallow. It can be seen behind the gills.
Good luck wish I had a better suggestion
This isn’t meant to be judgement, so please don’t take it that way. Did you actually see him the eat suction cup? I’ve had ocellatus swallow large rocks and they always pass them within a few days.
Here is an old thread discussing the exact fish and heater suction cup.
Here is an old thread discussing the exact fish and heater suction cup.
Hello; Sorry for giving the impression you situation would be the same as the other member. No particular reason you ought to see the object thru the gill slits. I have fished for a long time. I have found some things in the mouths of fish such as lures. A few times it seems a lure hook gets imbedded in the mouth. Interesting thing is the fish with a lure in its mouth did bite on my lure. I tend to keep some side clippers with me and can usually just cut the lure away and leave the imbedded hook. Point being fish can deal with some tough situations.
I am going to figure you have looked into the mouth by holding the bottom lip of the catfish. Assuming the fish has some size on it. If the mouth is clear there is not much to do except wait. Again good luck.
Thank you, and yeah tom it a pretty big fish right now, about 10-14 inches. And yes I took him out of the tank and checked his mouth, but it had already passed the sphincter (I’m pretty sure) but I really don’t want him to die
I think the best course of action is to wait and see, since the suction cup is deep in the fish's digestive tract and any intervention to remove it would probably cause more harm than good. RTCs are tough fish and don't die easily, in all likelihood it will eventually pass the cup.
I'd avoid feeding it for a few days, since the addition of more food might cause an impaction. You can feed him some roughage (e.g. algae wafers or blanched veggies) afterwards to help him pass the cup.
I'd avoid feeding it for a few days, since the addition of more food might cause an impaction. You can feed him some roughage (e.g. algae wafers or blanched veggies) afterwards to help him pass the cup.