Clove Oil Anesthetic?

N

NewbieFish

I hope I don't mess up
Mar 17, 2008
80
0
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Canada
So my angelfish decided to sample a chunk of Egeria densa which was too big and has been jammed in its throat for the past 3 days. It doesnt look like it will be able to get it out. Im planning on sedating the fish with clove oil and hooking that plant chunk out. Just had a few question about the clove oil since this is the first time Ill be using it.

Is the essential oil stuff from the health food place okay? The listed active ingrediant is clove bud oil. I know that a few drops per gallon is the range to use. Does anyone have any specific dosages? How long should I expect knockout time and recovery time to be?

Thanks
 
Oil of Cloves (Eugenol) administered at the rate of 10 drops per litre is an excellent anaesthetic. But work out the required amount before hand and thoroughly mix it in a small volume of water before adding it to the vessel containing the fish because it is difficult to dissolve it also has the advantage of causing numbness aswell as subduing the fish.Finally a larger amount can be use to humanely euthanise a fish without any suffering.
 
The freezer method is also an option.......:)
 
Be very very careful to not overdose as it will kill the fish. For puffers under 4 inches, we use 3 drops of 100% clove essential oil (yep the healthfood store stuff is fine) per 3 drops of tank water. Have another 3 cups of plain tankwater ready to put the fish in when you are done so that it can recover. Don't put it right back into the tank as it will be vulnerable for a few seconds/minutes. Monitor it for a couple minutes to make sure that it is okay and then you can put it back in the tank.

You'll need to work pretty fast so that it doesn't get over exposed and die. Within 1 minute it should be very slow and almost appear dead. Use a net or glove when handling the fish so as not to disturb it's natural slime coat, etc. Here's a link to the article I used for sedating and trimming my puffer's teeth. It describes what to do and how the fish will look when using clove oil. I think it's about halfway down the page.
 
Alright completed the operation. I think I got most of the plant bits but there may be some more deeper down that I was too scared to go at. Fish is recovering and hopefully I haven't damaged anything permanently.
 
How's the patient doc?
 
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