George, a standard goldfish, was admitted to Lort Smith Animal Hospital in North Melbourne last week to undergo surgery for a tumour that was “affecting his quality of life”.
The surgery, which included putting the fish under general anaesthetic, took about 45 minutes. “It’s a very fiddly procedure, and you have to be very careful about blood loss,” [the vet, Dr. Tristan Rich] explained.
“Every day I’ll do something different like this – operate on a little frog, or treat budgies, lizards, snakes and wildlife,” Dr Rich said.
Despite their size, he said goldfish could live up to 30 years if looked after properly.
While I had never heard of operations like this being done on fish (just imagine the issues with respiration and drying out), I have been party to having a pet rat getting a tumor removed, though obviously that’s a bit less complicated.