Recovery of Channel Catfish from Abdominal Surgery

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Abstract
Surgical incisions, performed with anesthesia in a septic environment, were made in the lateral–ventral abdominal wall of 244 fingerling channel catfish (Ictalurus punetatus; mean weight, 39.8 g ± 1.2 SE), and survival was monitored for 27 d. The incisions allowed gross observation of developing gonads to determine gender. After fish recovered from anesthesia in aerated water (about 30 min after they were first netted), they were dosed with NaCl (5.9 g/L) and nitrofurazone (211 mg/L). Thereafter, the fish were treated twice daily for 10 d with salt and nitrofurazone in a flow-through water system. They resumed feeding 6 d after surgery. Twenty-seven days after surgery, survival averaged 95.5% and all incisions were healed. Small channel catfish do not have to be killed or allowed to die after invasive procedures. Nevertheless, continued research is needed on noninvasive procedures to obtain biological information without surgery-related mortality.

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