Any mail in necropsy services for hobbyists?

JasonK84 · Jan 4, 2020

I had a Harlequin Tusk pass about an hour ago while in my hand. It quit eating with vigor about 2 to 3 weeks ago and about a week ago completely quit eating. Tried many different foods. Came home today he wasn’t acting normal. Very weak and I easily net him from where it was resting on the return pipe.

I would like to find out if there was some kind of internal issue that caused this so I can prevent any further losses. I’ve got 14 other fish still in my DT all still eating and doing well.

Also, the tank is a fish only system. If found to be internal intestinal parasites is it possible to dose the DT. It’s 120 gallon with 40 sump.

I have the fish in a ziplock bag in the fridge. Any necropsy services known that I can mail the fish in to?

I’ve had this fish since January 2019 and it’s been in The DT since beginning of March.

Terri Caton · Jan 4, 2020

Contact a fish vet and ask them. Sorry for the loss of your fish.

Mark Dunlap · Jan 5, 2020

Dr. Garner. Northwest Zoopath, Monroe Wa. 360 794 0630. You may need to submit the fish through a veterinarian. Keep the fish refrigerated until you can contact for instructions.
hth Mark

JasonK84 · Jan 5, 2020

Mark Dunlap said:
Dr. Garner. Northwest Zoopath, Monroe Wa. 360 794 0630. You may need to submit the fish through a veterinarian. Keep the fish refrigerated until you can contact for instructions.
hth Mark

Thank you. I plan on checking with my local vet in the morning. I’ve also heard that I’ll need to get it into formalin to preserve but I’ll see what my local vet suggests even though they don’t do any work with fish.

JasonK84 · Jan 5, 2020

Mark Dunlap said:
Dr. Garner. Northwest Zoopath, Monroe Wa. 360 794 0630. You may need to submit the fish through a veterinarian. Keep the fish refrigerated until you can contact for instructions.
hth Mark

I just looked them up. They require primates and fish be submitted in Formalin. Hoping I can find some locally. Small town USA is great until you need something yesterday.

Mark Dunlap · Jan 5, 2020

Any veterinary emergency clinic within the area? If so they would have a supply and in approved submission containers.

JasonK84 · Jan 5, 2020

Mark Dunlap said:
Any veterinary emergency clinic within the area? If so they would have a supply and in approved submission containers.

About 45 minutes away but I’m not willing to pay the emergency fees for a fish that’s already dead. If the cost of getting something like this done is crazy money then I won’t do it. I paid about $330 for the fish. Spending more than about $120 would be a little crazy. I’ve gone ahead and ordered fenbendazole as I suspect Prazi resistant worms but it would be good to know for sure. We will see in the morning. If the cost is more than I’m willing to pay then maybe I’ll go ahead and preserve the fish in formalin in the case that any other fish quit eating even after running the fenbendazole. It’ll be ready to send off.

mayday0237 · Jan 5, 2020

JasonK84 said:
I had a Harlequin Tusk pass about an hour ago while in my hand. It quit eating with vigor about 2 to 3 weeks ago and about a week ago completely quit eating. Tried many different foods. Came home today he wasn’t acting normal. Very weak and I easily net him from where it was resting on the return pipe.

I would like to find out if there was some kind of internal issue that caused this so I can prevent any further losses. I’ve got 14 other fish still in my DT all still eating and doing well.

Also, the tank is a fish only system. If found to be internal intestinal parasites is it possible to dose the DT. It’s 120 gallon with 40 sump.

I have the fish in a ziplock bag in the fridge. Any necropsy services known that I can mail the fish in to?

I’ve had this fish since January 2019 and it’s been in The DT since beginning of March.

Very sorry to hear...hope you get some answers. I love HTs

Mark Dunlap · Jan 5, 2020

JasonK84 said:
About 45 minutes away but I’m not willing to pay the emergency fees for a fish that’s already dead. If the cost of getting something like this done is crazy money then I won’t do it. I paid about $330 for the fish. Spending more than about $120 would be a little crazy. I’ve gone ahead and ordered fenbendazole as I suspect Prazi resistant worms but it would be good to know for sure. We will see in the morning. If the cost is more than I’m willing to pay then maybe I’ll go ahead and preserve the fish in formalin in the case that any other fish quit eating even after running the fenbendazole. It’ll be ready to send off.

I was thinking more of just asking for the sample bottle and formalin from them. They're free to us from the labs. It would be pretty harsh to charge you the emergency fee for that.

Mark

nezw0001 · Jan 5, 2020

You have any large animal vets around? They should have formalin and be able to supply you with a screw top container.

JasonK84 · Jan 5, 2020

Mark Dunlap said:
I was thinking more of just asking for the sample bottle and formalin from them. They're free to us from the labs. It would be pretty harsh to charge you the emergency fee for that.

Mark

Oh, ok. Hopefully the sample will still be good when I go to the local vet in the morning.

JasonK84 · Jan 5, 2020

nezw0001 said:
You have any large animal vets around? They should have formalin and be able to supply you with a screw top container.

Yes, the vet I’m going to see in the morning specializes in large animal (lots of horses). They also do lots of cats and dogs since they are the only vet in town.

I take my dog there. I went in trying to get chloroquine phosphate but they wouldn’t help me out. Since they don’t deal with Aquaria they weren’t privy to the use of the malaria medication for treating fish. I even showed them articles but it was no use.

Daniel@R2R · Jan 6, 2020

Sorry for the loss. Sucks to lose a fish like that and not know why

JasonK84 · Jan 6, 2020

Got with my Vet as soon as they opened and since they don’t do fish she called the lab they use and they have done a few fish necropsy. They wanted it kept refrigerated and not in formalin.

I drove the fish to Amarillo and delivered the fish to the lab. They agreed to do a gross necropsy for $100. So before I got to the lab I hit a buck!! Everyone (except the buck) is fine. My 5 year old daughter was pretty shook up but fine.

So with a $500 deductible this necropsy will cost $600!!! Hopefully I find the cause of the fish death and can address the rest of the tank before more issues occur.

Qasimja · Jan 6, 2020

wow sorry to hear about the accident but i will follow along to see what the autopsy said about the fish ive never heard of one being done on a fish before

motortrendz · Jan 6, 2020

Dumb deer. Ugh. Glad everyone is ok.

JasonK84 · Jan 6, 2020

motortrendz said:
Dumb deer. Ugh. Glad everyone is ok.

They ran out in front of me one after the other. Missed the first one and looked to where it came from and saw several that hadn’t crossed when BAM from the one I never saw until it hit. I would have thought it would have felt a little worse on impact. My daughter in the back seat didn’t know what happens. She said real calmly “Daddy, what was that?” I said it was a deer, we just hit a deer. She started balling. She is my sensitive one. We are home and all just fine. Now to find a repair shop.