EMERGENCY: NEED IMMEDIATE HELP - AROWANA ATE A BOTTLE CAP

[aeri]

I need help right away, this just happened a few minutes ago. I dropped a beer bottle cap into the pond and my jardini arowana jumped after it and swallowed it.

Is there anything I can do right now to make him throw it back out??

 

[houie925]

You could pester him and maybe he'll throw it up. I've done that with a catfish that swallowed an arowana but never tried to get an arowana to regurgitate.


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[Carpsalmon]

Relax, I had a leichardti aro swallow a plastic frog 3-4 inches long n I tried everything; chased it around til it got so tired to where I could make it swim circles so I did n nothing. So I sedated it and took 10 inch surgical tweezers n tried to pull the frog out manually but it was so far in the gut to where I couldn't get to it, so I let it b and it puked it up 2 weeks later. 17 inch lei btw


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[aeri]

Thanks for the replies. I've tried to pester him as well in hopes that he'd throw it up. I'm afraid to try sedating it as I have no experience with that. Hopefully he'll be okay and throw it up soon.

 

[Dr_Shakalu]

Thanks for the replies. I've tried to pester him as well in hopes that he'd throw it up. I'm afraid to try sedating it as I have no experience with that. Hopefully he'll be okay and throw it up soon.

I think the only thing you can do is to find a vet to surgically remove the metal bottle cap. Chasing it around until it gets tired or sedating it and using a tool to get the cap out probably won't work. First, sedating the fish should be done by someone with a little experience. Also, a bottle cap will be harder to get out then a soft frog. The cap is metal so it can't bend to get it out by the mouth and also a bottle cap has ridges that will tear up the inside of your aro if you try to pull it out by the mouth and the ridges will prevent the aro from simply coughing it up. Whatever you do, good luck, Ed.

 

[aeri]

Can fish be surgically operated on? Any suggestions on how I would find a local fish vet? I am only able to find those that specialize on dogs, cats, birds, and reptiles.

 

[LuluB916]

The price of a surgery on a fish might not be economical. One of my friend's GF had her hamster operated for $700 and it still died three weeks later. But, it's your call.

 

[aeri]

Any opinions regarding epsom salt? I did some reading and found that there's both pros and cons towards this method. Not sure if this is something I should try.

 

[Fat Homer]

^ Epson salt is normally used to get a fish to flush stuff out their system if they are constipated... so somehow i don't think that's a good idea?

 

[Dr_Shakalu]

I've seen some surgeries on aros but they were for more expensive Asian aros that had drop-eye. They sedated the fish and made a cut above the drop-eye and then they took out some of the fat that was pushing the eye down. But, in general, fish surgeries are very expensive so that's why they are done on expensive fish like Asian aros. However, it ultimately depends on how much you want to save your fish and how much you are willing to pay.