Neoplasia are relatively frequent in ornamental fish. Reports in these species are more common probably due to their prolonged life cycle and husbandry conditions. The present work presents results of 26 cases of neoplasia in goldfish (Carassius auratus) and koi (Cyprinus carpio koi).
For the surgical procedure, the fish were anesthetised using eugenol (clove oil) either by: 1) induction of surgical plane by immersion at [100 ppm] or 2) induction [100 ppm] and maintenance of surgical plane, [30 ppm] via recirculation (Figure 1). Either protocol was applied based on the nature and body surface involvement of the tumors.
After surgery, fish were recovered in anesthetic-free tanks and monitored for several hours before checking out. In all the 26 cases, anesthetic protocols were safe and adequate for the fulfillment of the procedures.
In 16 out of the 26 cases tumoral tissues were fixed in 10% buffered formalin and sent to pathology labs for the histopathology processing. Neoplastic growths were diagnosed based on light microscopy and immunohistochemistry (IHQ) techniques. The more frequent neoplasia were of mesenchymal origin (fibromas, leiomyosarcomas), epitelial, pigment and nervous cells tumors.
In all, the anesthetic protocols, surgical procedures and histopathology diagnosis helped us to improve and prolongue life quality for fish, identified tissues involved in neoplasia and develop procedures in the field of fish medicine.