ThievingSix
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2014
- Messages
- 19
Skip to the conclusion for the quick version. I'm trying to figure how my fish died and why it bloated up.
Background: A previously well roughly 3 year old male discus with no history of illness of any kind began losing appetite, over the course of 2 months with the most pronounced change occurring within the last 3 weeks.
There was minimal behaviour change until 3 weeks ago where the fish stopped taking food and tended to "rest" in one spot of the tank, whilst not hidden away, would occasionally come out to swim.
Current: Beginning around a week ago I observed the fish to have an increased amount abdominal bloating. Assuming it to be a case of constipation or intestinal parasites, the fish was treated with epsom salt baths, methylene blue and metronidazole over a period of 3 days. Its respiratory rate was almost double that of it's healthy tank mates. It seemed to gain some benefit from the epsom salt baths, but this was minimal relief for the fish.
It continued to deteriorate in the last 7 days ending with it being "face down" in the vertical plane, when touched it swam away with significant jerking motions and upside down with no sense of direction and eyes fixed. It was at this point that i decided to euthanize the fish.
Post-mortem:
Appearance - there was no evidence of visible parasites, fungus, white spot or any external infections/problems. Several external skin tissue samples examined under microscopy demonstrated the same conclusions. There was mild bulging of the eyes present(perhaps occurring post death). There was no clamping or fusing of the external fins, they were all normal in appearance. There did not appear to be any raising of scales. The abdomen area appeared bloated. There was no external leaking of feculent matter from the GI tract. There was no fungus or growths of any kind around the mouth which appeared normal.
On opening the abdominal cavity a large amount of yellowish thickened fluid was drained, which appeared to be ascitic in nature. The intestines were opened and no evidence of parasites were found, the GI tract was empty. The lungs appeared normal. The swim bladder was normal.
My conclusion: I'm not entirely sure what killed this fish. I have very clean water in my tank that meets all the parameters for discus. The yellow fluid seems to me like it indicates liver failure, whether this was the cause of death or secondary to something else i'm not sure. The fact that there's no parasites, fungus or any kind of change other than abdominal bloating leads me to 2 possible causes of death, an unexplained bacterial infection, or liver cancer of some kind. The "end stage" for the fish appears like it ended up having profound chemical imbalances.
Any ideas would be much appreciated
Background: A previously well roughly 3 year old male discus with no history of illness of any kind began losing appetite, over the course of 2 months with the most pronounced change occurring within the last 3 weeks.
There was minimal behaviour change until 3 weeks ago where the fish stopped taking food and tended to "rest" in one spot of the tank, whilst not hidden away, would occasionally come out to swim.
Current: Beginning around a week ago I observed the fish to have an increased amount abdominal bloating. Assuming it to be a case of constipation or intestinal parasites, the fish was treated with epsom salt baths, methylene blue and metronidazole over a period of 3 days. Its respiratory rate was almost double that of it's healthy tank mates. It seemed to gain some benefit from the epsom salt baths, but this was minimal relief for the fish.
It continued to deteriorate in the last 7 days ending with it being "face down" in the vertical plane, when touched it swam away with significant jerking motions and upside down with no sense of direction and eyes fixed. It was at this point that i decided to euthanize the fish.
Post-mortem:
Appearance - there was no evidence of visible parasites, fungus, white spot or any external infections/problems. Several external skin tissue samples examined under microscopy demonstrated the same conclusions. There was mild bulging of the eyes present(perhaps occurring post death). There was no clamping or fusing of the external fins, they were all normal in appearance. There did not appear to be any raising of scales. The abdomen area appeared bloated. There was no external leaking of feculent matter from the GI tract. There was no fungus or growths of any kind around the mouth which appeared normal.
On opening the abdominal cavity a large amount of yellowish thickened fluid was drained, which appeared to be ascitic in nature. The intestines were opened and no evidence of parasites were found, the GI tract was empty. The lungs appeared normal. The swim bladder was normal.
My conclusion: I'm not entirely sure what killed this fish. I have very clean water in my tank that meets all the parameters for discus. The yellow fluid seems to me like it indicates liver failure, whether this was the cause of death or secondary to something else i'm not sure. The fact that there's no parasites, fungus or any kind of change other than abdominal bloating leads me to 2 possible causes of death, an unexplained bacterial infection, or liver cancer of some kind. The "end stage" for the fish appears like it ended up having profound chemical imbalances.
Any ideas would be much appreciated