Tatia Perugiae stuck in net! Help!

[Industrial]

So yesterday between jobs I came home and saw that two of my tatia perugiae had ick, and one of those two was dead. I netted the dead one and took him out, and then I netted the live one and his fin got stuck in my net.

Not a problem, this has happened before with other catfish. I dipped him in the bag and he seemed stuck, I dipped him in the tank and he was definitely stuck. I tried gently moving around his fin to get it lose from the net and it was really, really stuck. I ended up cutting the net. My scissors, like many scissors are not designed for near surgical accuracy and I just cut him off a small section of net so he could swim around his new tank while I was at work.

When I came home, he was still stuck in that piece of net and I am unsure of what to do. Now he can swim around, but he is still stuck in the net. How can I get this net off?

[MatsP]

Two alternatives that I think should work
1. Get a better cutting device - you can buy fine scissors in crafts/art or often in the sewing, or the beauty products department (or shops that specialize in one of these things). Art/crafts shops will also carry scalpels, which is a very good way of cutting things with good precision - blades for these are very sharp. Model shops also do small/sharp knifes of a similar type, e.g. Xacto brand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalpel

Very sharp/small wire cutting pliers can also be used for this type of "operation".
Xcellite Shearcutters or some such would be great.


Cut off the offending net.


2. Using a sharp cutting device, and cut off the end of the pectoral fin [or whatever hard ray is stuck in the net] (Using one of the scissors type things rather than scalpel type cutting tool).

Fins do grow back out.

--
Mats

[Industrial]

Okay, I think I will give it one more day though. I would rather avoid cutting off it's fin if possible. I will try to get it off myself again and if I cannot and he cannot by the end of the day I will do that.

[MatsP]

Okay, I think I will give it one more day though. I would rather avoid cutting off it's fin if possible. I will try to get it off myself again and if I cannot and he cannot by the end of the day I will do that.

I expect that if the net hasn't come off by now, it's not going to come off by itself [anytime soon].

--
Mats

[TP]

I recently had the same problem with one of my Sorubim limas that got very tangled in a net when I recently moved them, it was tangled by both pectorals and its dorsal. Like yourself I cut the net away as close as i could until I ended up with 3 patches of net, one on each fin. These were small enough not to noticably bother the fish. I then made the decision just to leave it alone and see what happened as I was not willing to cut the fin away or try and pull it off to forceably and risk hurting the fish. It took a while (2 pieces 1 week, 1 piece 2 weeks) but eventually they came off naturally with no ill effects. I think that over the week or two the moving of the net against the spines just wore the net away gently until it released itself.

[RickE]

As an angler and an ex-commercial aquarist this is a problem I have had many times. In almost all cases, if you hold the net firmly just above where the spine is stuck and gently wiggle it up and down you can maneouvre it off the spine. It might take a couple of minutes of fiddling. It is probably too late now you have a piece cut out of the net as you won't be able to get sufficient tension on it but worth trying in the future.

[Richard B]

A scapel to carefully sever the net would be my recommendation. Quick, simple but needs confidence & precision.

Or a "stitch picker" available from sewing suppliers..

[Suckermouth]

I have had the same issue once with C. perugiae in the past... If I'm not imagining things, I believe I used tweezers to take the net off the fin.

[Jools]

Three solutions to this problem and it's one I have all the time when I can't get spiny fish into a tube or cave.

1) Leave the net hanging in the tank so just the fish and as little as net as possible are submerged. Turn off the lights, leave it for 24 hours.

2) Cut out the net and let the fish swim around with some net attached, it will detach eventually. I have several holey nets and I just use them to catch big thorny fish!

3) Use nail clippers to cut off the fish but leave the net intact. Once bone dry, the fin spine can be hammered or further trimmed with the clippers.

Jools

[Industrial]

Before reading the rest of the comments, I decided that I would likely have to follow matp's advice. I thought about leaving it alone permanently, but if it grew this may cause problems down the road.

I decided to take out the cat one more time and try to get it off. He was even more tangeled, and I got all but the original piece off. The piece of net was fairly large. It was the length of the catfish and a bit wider than the catfish.

After trying to get it off I decided that if cutting off the end of the fin was the alternative I would try to pull it really tight and risk breaking off the tip of the fin. I pulled the sides really tight then I tried to carefully rip the net (like the corner of a candy bar wrapper) and he got out. His fin is undamaged looking right now. Tomorrow when he calms down, I will give him some bloodworms to see if he swims normally, but I am pretty sure he is fine.

My biggest worry was that with his jumping around and the way the scissors pull in the net that he would get cut by the scissors which is why I only cut out a large chunk.

Thank you all for the help and advice!!

[mikek]

you can buy anty snag nets they do work regards mike

[Richard B]

In future you might wanna try catching him in a plastic measuring jug or glass jar, rather than use a net at all

[Industrial]

I think I will just chase him into a cup or something next time, or would it be a bad idea to try to pick one up? They tend to be asleep most of the time anyways.

Also, I forgot to say. I heard a quiet clicking sound while trying to remove the net a second time. I thought that was pretty interesting since I have only known doradids to do that.

[MatsP]

Lots of catfish (plecos and synos for certain) can make sounds, just like doradids [I don't know if they technically use the same method in the case of plecos - just that they make a bit of a sounds if you hold/handle them].

As long as you have wet fingers, holding fish shouldn't be a problem. With dry hands, you may cause damage to the skin. I've used "hand catching" of fish quite a bit when the fish are staying in one place - plecos for certain is easier to catch by hand than in a net, as long as the tank is a small enough.

--
Mats

[Richard B]

Brachyplatystoma filamentosum

has been known to produce a load squealing grunt when removed from the water which has started a few anglers in their time.

[Suckermouth]

Occasionally I can move C. perugiae just by moving their piece of wood they're in, and making sure they don't jump ship before or during transfer!

[Richard B]

Occasionally I can move C. perugiae just by moving their piece of wood they're in, and making sure they don't jump ship before or during transfer!

Good point, i have seen this done a few times, also with L.Oncinus