driftwood splinter in head

[metalman]

Help! my blue turk has headbutted some driftwood, and has a big splinter above his eye. What do I do? operate, or leave it?

[Xtreme]

Pull it out
should come out as easy as it went in
mayb treat it with a antibiotic as well for piece of mind

[metalman]

errrr, whats the best way to go about it?

[metalman]

I have just had a closer look, and it is about 20mm long going front to back. It is much longer than I first thought.

[Merrilyn]

It's still got to come out.

The whole area will become infected if you leave it there.

Get everything ready, with a wet towel and a pair of tweezers. Catch the fish and lay him carefully on the wet towel. Fold over a corner of the towel to hold the fish steady and remove the splinter with the tweezers with one smooth steady movement.

Return the fish to a hospital tank, and add one heap teaspoon of plain salt per 40 litres of tank water to aid with the healing. If you have some Betadine Ointment (available from the chemist), apply that to the wound before returning the fish to the tank.

[Hassles]

Hey Metalman

what was the outcome with your splintered fish :?: I ask as a discus breeding friend of mine unexpectedly lost a fish some time back and upon retrieving the carcass from the tank noticed a small splinter in its side. Left unchecked, this was enough to cause the fatality.

[JoeDiscus85]

ugh that sounds a tad rough