Surgery on my Indo Gold Torch

[Steve2020]

Last night a few hours after lights out I was using my blue 450nm flashlight to look around the tank which I do about once a week to see what activity is gong on, I noticed a feathery looking creature pulsing up and down on my Indo Gold Torch. After doing some research it was determined to be a Barnacle. To determine the best action to take, I read a few posts on this site and read multiple recommendation's. Example: let it be because it will not cause harm to the Torch. Kill it because it will eventually cause harm to the Torch. Ways to kill it: glue the opening in the Barnacle, putty over the Barnacle, remove the crustacean in the shell. Because of the many recommendation I called my LFS ( New Wave Aquaria ) and talked with Ted who over the years I have come to respect his recommendations and he said it is better to remove it and also said the worst thing to do is to glue or putty it shut due to it will turn into what he called a toilet bowl. As the crustacean dies and decomposes, the polluted water in the shell could find its way into the skeleton on the Torch working it's way into the flesh and possibly infecting the Torch and killing it. I did not want to take that chance so I ended up doing surgery on the Torch and removing the crustacean from the shell and some of the shell. Due to some of the Torch flesh growing on the shell I could not remove the entire shell. Ted told me that was fine and the flesh may continue to grow over the shell. I used a small pair of needle nose plyers to break some of the shell to enlarge the opening then used a small pair of tweezers to pull out the crustacean. All is good and the Torch is in recovery.

TORCH SURGERY AND CRUSTACEAN REMOVED.

TORCH IN RECOVERY.

 

[1112-425XL]

Awesome information... great job and great pics! Thanks for sharing.