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My tigrinus cat has a bumblebee catfish caught in it's gob what to do?

Matt

Is it likely that it is able to turn it to a head first position so it can consume it?

I'd be tempted to net it, wrap it in a wet towel, & see if i could manually remove it (if it looks like it will not be able to rid itself of the bumblebee & is starting to get stressed)

Thanks for getting back Richard.
It's in a head first position but unfortunately it is a really big gravid female. It is simply to large to swallow and I think the bumble bee has spread his spines. It is still alive and until it dies it is going to have trouble.
It is looking really weak now so I have increased circulation and am going to try and position it in the flow.

Matt

sounds quite worrying

I am hesitant to suggest much else (it's a very expensive fish & it's not my risk)

If the 'vicim' has locked it's pectorals it'll not usually release them upon gentle massage - i am concerned about the tigrinis getting stressed with a gobful of something it can't spit out

can they be placed in a container and anesthisized? Just wondering. So you can then get the fish out? Anesthisize the two of them? would that work?

Right here is a run down of what I did just in case it happens to anyone else.
After I last posted things went quickly down hill. When I got back to the tank he was drifting listlessly around the tank with not much life in him or gill movement.
I decided what to do.
My missus started emptying some of the water from the tank and I set up a pond pump with big airstones at one end of the tank.
The first thing I did was hold the fishy mouth first in the flow of the powerhead that sucks water from the bottom of the tank and sprays it at 2000l/hr until his gills started moving more regularly. Not directly by the outlet you understand but just where the bubbles stop. (The water crashes onto the surface to get as much aeration in as possible.)
The temperature in his tank is set at 27 degrees so in order to bring that temperature down I replaced half the water with water from a barrel that luckily was there ready for tomorrows water change, this allowed more oxygen to be dissolved in the water.
Then I held him in the water flow with my hand until he started to struggle, I took this as an indication that he was feeling alot better.
Time for surgery!
As this fish has a mouth the size of a cavern, it was actually quite easy to see within his gob quite easily. It turned out that it wasn't a female but in fact a male and as such I could see immediately what the problem was. he had wedged his pectorals into the tigrinus' gills.
Oh oh what to do?
He had gone quite limp again so I held him in the flow again until he started struggling again.
I decided I must cut the spines in order to release the fish, no easy task down the fishes gob, so through his gills it was then. While my missus held a really bright LED light stick to illuminate proceedings I began searching around for an angle to cut the spines without damaging his gills, not easy when your hands are shaking like you have been holding onto a cliff for an hour.
Anyway I managed somehow to cut the pectoral spines right near their bases and the poor bumblebee was free enough to pull out.
I held him in the flow again for about half an hour and then put him in a position on a log that was in the water flow.
His gob was stuck open and I tell you I didn't hold out much hope, although he didn't have any blood coming from his gills. I went to bed this was 00:35 the whole operation had taken about 2 hrs.
Any way I woke up this morning and he seems fine, he is still sitting in the current but now he is swimming in it, it is a strong current so he has gotta be feeling better.
Hooray! I hope he recovers fully, I am now concerned about infection from injuries in his gob and gills from the spines, so it's off to buy a brand new tank and some melofix to make a hospital for him.
Thanks for replying guys.
What a night.

Matt

Wow. That must have been some ordeal - here's my wish for a good recovery.

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Mats

that's an outrageous ordeal. So both fished lived? Well done.

In terms of the removal, it sounds the best course of action possible for both fish - here's to a full recovery

I'm afraid the bumble bee had it.
This was bad for me as I have had my bumblebees for many years, I even believe they spawned at one point.
I have been slowly loseing them through mishaps for the last couple of months (two in one hit which entererd a powerhead which a jaguar had knocked off).
So now it's only down to one.
Why were there bumblebees in with this fish?
Well he had to be moved to this tank when the luecostica cichlids in his tank spawned and the tank is full of glued on rocks so catching them is impossible.
Anyway the tig is fine and I am about to move him into his own new tank, so no more mishaps!!!!
Oh I should not have said that.............

Matt

Bad news for the bumblebee, good news for the tig at least.....

All is now cool.
He/is in his new tank and doing Fab.
He has eaten a load of live river shrimp so his gob and gullet are still working and also the redness around his mouth and gill area have gone.
Hooray!
That was a close shave.
Matt

Hmmm - a whisker away from tragedy! (pun intended - sorry )