# Routine Gill Curl Surgery



## the_w8

Just thought I'd let you fellas and gals know I sucessfully did a gill curl surgery on my Manny and it was a success







Sorry no pics this time, but it was pretty general and it only affected the soft membrane of the gill.He had gill curl since I got him back in April of '09 at 4.75". Now that he's gotten bigger I noticed it more since his gill plate has gotten bigger.
I sedated him with only .6 ml of clove oil to 20 parts of everclear in 3 gallons of water. He went down within 2 minutes. I kept it on the lower end since it only took me a couple of minutes to snip at the curl. I will admit, it was kinda scary seeing the poor fella floating upside down and made the heart race a lil. After the surgery was complete I put him in the tank by the powerhead and let him get some fresh water. Within a minute he was upright and withing 5 minutes he was swimming around. Couple hours later he's doing great







and his curl is gone! BTW I was able to accurately measure him and he is 6.75" from head to tail. Beast is definitely putting on good size for being known as one of the notorious "slow growers".


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## I Can Mate

wow thats great work man. i have never done it myself but i would freak if my piranha was upside down


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## HGI

Awesome, grats! I didn't figure it would be very hard thing to do, just gotta get out there and get it done.

Happy endings aways make me cheerful


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## Genesis8

Congrats on the Surgery. Do you have any Before and After pics? I would really like to see.


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## the_w8

no i do not sorry...Its too hard to get a pic of him now...He's always moving around and don't cooperate when it comes timte to take pics...One day later and hs gills look PERFECT thats all i can say and he hasn't changed one bit...Swimming around like crazy and he ate EXCELLENT today, which i thought he might still be a little under the weather. It turned out great overall.


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## Genesis8

I might have to do surgery on my guy this weekend(cutting the hard membrane off), not sure yet. I've been watching those guys do Surgery on the Arowanas on Youtube and it's kinda freaky because most of the Arowanas wasn't sedated at all.


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## the_w8

i used less then the reccommended dosage in PAT's post and my piranha went down...Like he said .2-.3 ml will sedate your piranha and it's true...It worked for me. It did look kinda disheartening seeing him turn upside down, but you gotta be brave like i said earlier. the gill curl on my manny wasn't as bad because it was only the soft membrane and it came off easily with a cuticle snipper. The hard membrane be extra CAREFUL. You don't wanna snip any of his gills.


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## Genesis8

^^ How long did you put him in the clove/alcohol for before doing the operation?


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## jamezgt

Genesis8 said:


> I might have to do surgery on my guy this weekend(cutting the hard membrane off), not sure yet. I've been watching those guys do Surgery on the Arowanas on Youtube and it's kinda freaky because most of the Arowanas wasn't sedated at all.


Let me know how it goes! I also have to operate on my Rhombeus and remove the hard membrane. Any tips would be appreciated


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## Genesis8

Yes I will let you know how it goes. If I have time to do the surgery this weekend, I will take some pics before/after surgery.


jamezgt said:


> I might have to do surgery on my guy this weekend(cutting the hard membrane off), not sure yet. I've been watching those guys do Surgery on the Arowanas on Youtube and it's kinda freaky because most of the Arowanas wasn't sedated at all.


Let me know how it goes! I also have to operate on my Rhombeus and remove the hard membrane. Any tips would be appreciated








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## the_w8

I had him in the sedated mix for maybe 2 minutes and he was out. I pulled him out and put him a flat tupperware container with the sedated mix and then did the snipping...I held him with a wet cloth while doing the snipping and everything went real well. The surgery is real simple. I'd stick to PAT's advice on the sedation and your piranhas should be fine. Just to be safe like I said I used less then the reccommended amount.


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## Piranha_man

Congratulations!

Always inspiring to hear about members who "go the extra mile" for their fish. 
It's stuff like this that give piranha owners a _good name_.


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## the_w8

thanks bud! Glad everything went well.


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## impalass

"Going the extra mile" is putting it mildly, it would give a bad case or the nerves, I take my hat off to you.


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## the_w8

Yea it truly was nerve racking, no lying about that. See the poor fella flip upside down and then of course I'm trying to snip at the soft membrane as quickly and smoothly as I can and hoping he comes out fine. Now he's back to his old self ripping up tilapia and scooting all over the tank


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## gfenton123

Will his gill tissue grow back after surgery.


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## the_w8

To this date his gill curl is not an issue. Yes it can grow back if given poor water conditions and too little of space, but I highly doubt either will happen because I keep my manny in a 125G tank at the moment and I'm OCD with my water changes







I have free water so might as well take that to my advantage.

EDIT: I'm sorry I misread ur post...He had "extra" gill plate at the end of the plate, so I snipped the extra off and it looks like what a normal gill plate should look. Everything healed up within a few weeks I would say.


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## jp80911

I'm just looking into doing this on my new rhom.

so you used 0.6ml of clove oil and 12ml of everclear in 3gal of water? that's a lot less than what PAT had in the sedation thread at 1ml clove oil with 10ml everclear for gallon of water. was your manueli moving at all during the surgery or it was dead still?


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## the_w8

I seen ur surgery JP. congrats on the results BTW....My manny was deadstill throughout the surgery, but he was a lil bit smaller then ur rhom also. All piranhas are different, so you never know how much it'll really take to knock em out temp. I went the safe route and decided to go at a lesser dosage and it worked out great. Plus with it being a manny and how they're known to be more susceptable to ailments, i figured it'd be best in his health.


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