Blue Spot Puffer Autopsy - findings?

[Sstadler]

No gnarly pictures. Just one of the findings…

I made a post a couple weeks ago about my blue spot puffer acting odd. Tank habitant for almost 2 years. Went through full prophylactic QT. He was super shy and hiding from light. Totally opposite of his normal behavior & knowing this is an obvious signs of illness… no other inhabitants showed issue, including all my sensitive varieties.. After around a week he began eating again. Then shortly fell back into his lethargic state. Today he was floating around and appeared bloated. Not swim bladder bloated, like exhausted bloated. Had almost no energy.

I attempted to examine the fish in water, assist in expelling waste, and feel for swim bladder. Also attempted vertical exhaustion of water that could be stuck from stress puffing.

No luck. I decided humanely euthanize and examine the fish.

I found two rock hard pebbles inside of his intestines near his rectum. I expect a bowel obstruction. These are similar to, maybe slightly larger than, the size of a New Life Spectrum Large pellet.

I’m guessing sand or a piece of rock? There was also some sand-like grains in his intestines on examination. The small black piece under the rocks is an example of his normal poo size.

TIA. Miss him. He was a great member of my reef and so stunning.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

No gnarly pictures. Just one of the findings…

I made a post a couple weeks ago about my blue spot puffer acting odd. Tank habitant for almost 2 years. Went through full prophylactic QT. He was super shy and hiding from light. Totally opposite of his normal behavior & knowing this is an obvious signs of illness… no other inhabitants showed issue, including all my sensitive varieties.. After around a week he began eating again. Then shortly fell back into his lethargic state. Today he was floating around and appeared bloated. Not swim bladder bloated, like exhausted bloated. Had almost no energy.

I attempted to examine the fish in water, assist in expelling waste, and feel for swim bladder. Also attempted vertical exhaustion of water that could be stuck from stress puffing.

No luck. I decided humanely euthanize and examine the fish.

I found two rock hard pebbles inside of his intestines near his rectum. I expect a bowel obstruction. These are similar to, maybe slightly larger than, the size of a New Life Spectrum Large pellet.

I’m guessing sand or a piece of rock? There was also some sand-like grains in his intestines on examination. The small black piece under the rocks is an example of his normal poo size.

TIA. Miss him. He was a great member of my reef and so stunning.

Sorry to hear about your puffer.

While fish can swallow rocks and that in turn can cause bowel obstructions, these rocks look pretty small.

Finding rocks in the alimentary system of fish is fairly common in some species.

Did you see any evidence of infection near where the rocks were? Dark or bloody intestines? Any gas bubbles?

 

[Sstadler]

Sorry to hear about your puffer.

While fish can swallow rocks and that in turn can cause bowel obstructions, these rocks look pretty small.

Finding rocks in the alimentary system of fish is fairly common in some species.

Did you see any evidence of infection near where the rocks were? Dark or bloody intestines? Any gas bubbles?

I did find two separate sacs of air inside of the fish. I did have swim bladder on my list of culprits but he was so lethargic that qt wouldn’t have been fruitful. His mouth was also stuck open. I did not see any signs of infection, organs looked normal size and colors. There was some dark blood in the intestines