Any ideas on what happened to my fish?

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Lab_Rat

Merry Christmas!
Dec 3, 2009
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Deep South
I was doing my nightly check on the tanks before lights out and found my male fryeri upside down, obviously dying. This fish was acting normally 3 hrs before when I fed. The only abnormality I see is a faint red spot on his belly, immediately anterior to his vent. See pic below. I have no idea why he is dying, the only thing I can think of is one of the other males attacked him, but there is no damage elsewhere. I've got him in a qt tank right now, but I'm pretty sure he'll be dead in the next hour. I've never seen a fish go so fast without obvious damage. If it is something other than trauma, something contagious, please let me know what your thoughts are so I can keep any others from dying.

 

Lab_Rat

Merry Christmas!
Dec 3, 2009
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Deep South
Ok, he died right after I posted this, so I attempted a necroscopy. I've not done one of these before and my fish anatomy knowledge sucks. To start with, he obviously ruptured something internally. When I put him on the paper towel, he was leaking blood from that spot on his belly. I could see a faint bloody tint and could smell blood from the start.

Here's the outside of the fish:




Here's the insides:


His swim bladder was flat. Not sure if it was ruptured or if it would hold shape even when dead. If the latter, it was most certainly ruptured. The next thing I noticed was how huge his gall bladder was. It was literally the size of a pea. Eventually it popped as I was messing with it, and it was definitely full of green bile. I opened up the peritoneum and found that pinkish thing which was dotted with white. Not sure what that is, the liver? It was attached to the gall bladder and I was able to easily separate it from the rest of the organs in the peritoneum.




That's all the pics I have. I have no idea if what I was looking at is normal or if there is a gross abnormality there. Please, if you have any suggestions, let me know. I didn't see any signs of parasites or anything, at least not macroscopically (my original thought).
 

excuzzzeme

Stroke Survivor '05
The green bile in the bladder is normal. I believe the red spot was caused by a tumor or cyst-like occurrence. I lost a fish to the same Dx and never did figure out what the cause was. Like you, my anatomy is weak and likely more so. I just never have enough samples to inspect thankfully. Good luck, if you find an answer and please let me know.
 

platytudes

AC Members
Nov 4, 2006
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Nicole
I don't doubt that you'll get an answer here as I know there are several members experienced in this matter, however Bob Fenner and Neale Monks over at Wet Web Media are two experts I would definitely consider asking. I'm sure one of them could tell you whether those pics look normal or not (I can't tell, myself). Excellent pics, however, and kudos to you for thinking to do this! I often times bury the fish without hesitation, then think to myself, "Wait a minute...I should've..."
 

the wizard

Is it really Niko's fault?
Jan 28, 2010
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David
Bump. Hope you can find the answer.
 
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