I brought Panda, my panda oranda, home in October, 2005. At that time, he had only the beginnings of a wen. He was probably under a year old. Here is Panda about a month after I brought him home.

Here is Panda on January 2^nd, 2006. You can see that his wen has started to grow.

Here is Panda on January 18^th, 2006. His wen is filling out nicely.

Orandas are born without a wen and usually start to develop them by six months of age. The wen can take up to two years or more to fully develop. A diet rich in proteins and fats contributes to wen growth as does genetics and good clean water. As the wen grows it can completely occlude the eyes rendering the oranda blind. As you can see from the pictures below, Panda's eyes were completely covered by his wen. He was bumping into the tank walls and was the last to find the food. Here is a front and side view of Panda Paws on March 16^th, 2006, before his wen trim.

I opted for a professional, Dr. Helen Roberts, to do the wen trimming because the wen was totally covering his eyes. The following article documents the wen trim procedure performed by Dr. Roberts.

The wen trim surgery was performed on March, 17, 2006. Here Panda is being anesthetized. Dr. Roberts used 1/4 teaspoon of Finquel and buffered with equal parts of baking soda per gallon of water. The Finquel can make the water acidic. If you have soft water you may want to double the dose of baking soda. It took approximately five minutes to sedate him. You can tell he is sedated when he lies on his side and gill movement slows.

Dr. Roberts used a small pair of sharp scissors to trim the wen. To me it looks painful and there is some controversy whether the fish would feel pain when undergoing this procedure. However Panda Paws did receive an analgesic after it was over.

Here Dr. Roberts is trimming around the upper eye area.

A piece of Panda Paw's wen.

Here, Dr. Roberts is using Brown-Adson tissue forceps to protect the eye while she trims the wen. She flipped them and used the flat handle part because it was smooth and would cover the eye and prevent accidental injury. When she cut around the eyes as in the picture below she used small curved scissors.

It is necessary to put him back into the Finquel solution every few minutes to keep him sedated as the procedue takes about half an hour.

Next Dr. Roberts trimmed the cheek areas.

The cheek area is a little more fibrous and therefore a little more difficult to cut. The wen is comprised of myxomatous connective tissue with an epithelial surface. It is not very vascular hence no bleeding was noted during the procedure.

Back into the Finquel.

Here she is trimming a little higher up on the wen.

What a cutie pie face he has. Look at those big eyes now.

Finishing up on the other eye.

A front view of Dr. Roberts trimming the eye area.

Here Dr Roberts is finishing the eyes and she is taking time to ensure that the wen is symmetrical.

What a puss!

Who could not love that face! A beautiful wen cut! Dr. Roberts made sure to trim the front of the wen, so that Panda could see in front of him too.

Left on the operating table were bits and pieces of his wen.

Here is most of what was removed.

Dr. Roberts weighs Panda Paws after the surgery. He weighed 191 grams.

When the wen trimming was completed, it was time for recovery. Dr. Roberts wakes Panda Paws up in his bucket filled with fresh oxygenated water. It takes about 5 minutes.

The whole procedure took approximately a half hour and Panda tolerated it well. He was given an injection of butorphanol for pain and baytril, an antibiotic. Once home in his tank he rested for about an hour. Now he is the first one to the food and is navigating the tank much better.

The following pictures show him back home in his tank directly after the procedure. The rough edges you see around his eyes will smooth out in about a months time.

Here he is on April 11^th, 2006. You can see how the tissue that was trimmed has smoothed out. A very handsome wen trim indeed!

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