How Could This Happen?

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Aqualung

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Jan 31, 2004
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I was feeding my fish a couple of hours ago when I noticed my halfbeak wasn't coming to the food. I looked, and noticed a "glob" protruding from it's anus. It obviously wasn't feces, and appeared to be intestine. I tried dropping some food right at it's beak, but it wouldn't touch it. After watching for a few minutes I saw the fish sink and then start struggling against the current. After this it made it back to the surface, but then started tilting from side to side before going completely belly up.

I scooped the fish out into a dish (with tank water) and tried to see if in fact it was intestine or something that could be pulled out. It was intestine, so I decided there was nothing to do but put the fish into the freezer. I have never had to put a fish down before, but it seemed like the only thing that could be done.

Has anyone ever heard of this happening? I haven't, and didn't know it was even possible. It doesn't seem like there's any way it could have been prevented, or any way to remedy the problem. I'm bummed out right now, and a bit confused. I'm going to do some research on this, but thought I would post to ask if anyone has heard of such a thing before.
 
Well, swallowing gravel wouldn't be likely since the fish stays at the surface, but I wonder if it may have swallowed a small snail and the shell blocked the intestines or something.

I'm not having any luck on google yet, but I really don't know what to try for search terms. I'll just keep trying different terms and hope something relevant comes up.
 
Aqualung said:
I scooped the fish out into a dish (with tank water) and tried to see if in fact it was intestine or something that could be pulled out. It was intestine, so I decided there was nothing to do but put the fish into the freezer. I have never had to put a fish down before, but it seemed like the only thing that could be done.
Click to expand...

why do you put your fish in the freezer??
 
I put the fish into the freezer to euthanize it. It was suffering and there was nothing I could do to save it, so I chose to put it out of it's misery. It was the first time I've ever done that, and I hope I don't have to do it again anytime soon.

There seems to be very little info about this on the web, but I have learned a couple of things so far. It is known as a rectal prolapse, and is sometimes caused by internal parasites. I had a problem with camallanus when I first got the halfbeaks, but that was almost two years ago now and I haven't seen any sign of it since. There have been no additions to the tank for about a year, so parasitic infection seems unlikely. I'm still researching and will post any relevant findings here.
 
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aqualung, my half beak passed away yesterday for what seemed like no reason... I still am unsure a to what happend, evevrything else in the tank is fine and it was eating real well. Im going to try another asap since i dont often see celebes 1/2 beaks but have always liked them... I have had entestin problems as well... my angel and royal pleco both had it and died real quick, sorry
 
wildcats - if you are going to give them another try, try to get some metronidazole before you acquire the fish. It seems that beaks are prone to internal parasites, and you can get prepared flakes with metro already in it, or buy it as a powder and mix it in with frozen food. It may help, although I haven't tried it. I know it won't be effective for camallanus, which is what my halfbeaks had when I first got them.

Also be aware that halfbeaks are very sensitive to changes in ph, so test both the lfs water that they come home in as well as your tank water and acclimate accordingly.

Since you say that you had other fish die of intestinal problems, I would monitor your tank's inhabitants for a while before deciding to purchase more fish. Can you give more details on the causes of death? It's my thread so don't worry about hijacking it!

* I edited my posts for misspelling "camallanus". I had just seen references to "callamanus" in my searches, and apparently it stuck. There seems to be quite a bit of confusion about the correct spelling - can anyone verify that I am spelling it right?
 
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