Gem Tang Died.

[zatchyvsalt]

Hey everyone.

So I had a Gem Tang who just passed recently. It was very sudden. The gem tang started to have a white blob mark under its belly. Was no longer eating and swimming was very uncommon. Swimming with head up and tail down. Circling one rock in the tank.

I thought maybe bacterial infection so treated with Neoplex and Metroplex to no avail. Figured it may be a bowl block because I did not see him poop in a while. When he passed I took him out and started to push on his stomach and sure enough poop was coming out quite extensively.

My curiosity got the better of me and I dissected him open and his entire lower intestine was filled with sand.

Is this normal? Could this be the cause of his sudden death.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hey everyone.

So I had a Gem Tang who just passed recently. It was very sudden. The gem tang started to have a white blob mark under its belly. Was no longer eating and swimming was very uncommon. Swimming with head up and tail down. Circling one rock in the tank.

I thought maybe bacterial infection so treated with Neoplex and Metroplex to no avail. Figured it may be a bowl block because I did not see him poop in a while. When he passed I took him out and started to push on his stomach and sure enough poop was coming out quite extensively.

My curiosity got the better of me and I dissected him open and his entire lower intestine was filled with sand.

Is this normal? Could this be the cause of his sudden death.

Not normal. A little bit of sand might be o.k., but really parrotfish are the only ones you expect to find a lot of sand in. I wonder if it developed an impaction and kept feeding, letting small amounts of sand build up?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey everyone.

So I had a Gem Tang who just passed recently. It was very sudden. The gem tang started to have a white blob mark under its belly. Was no longer eating and swimming was very uncommon. Swimming with head up and tail down. Circling one rock in the tank.

I thought maybe bacterial infection so treated with Neoplex and Metroplex to no avail. Figured it may be a bowl block because I did not see him poop in a while. When he passed I took him out and started to push on his stomach and sure enough poop was coming out quite extensively.

My curiosity got the better of me and I dissected him open and his entire lower intestine was filled with sand.

Is this normal? Could this be the cause of his sudden death.

This is unfortunate and may be rectal prolapse. Moving forward, do not wait until anyissue gets worse.
Did it look like this?

 

[zatchyvsalt]

This is unfortunate and may be rectal prolapse. Moving forward, do not wait until anyissue gets worse.
Did it look like this?

No there was no prolapse. Just white underbelly. More like picture below (not my original photo)

As stated noticed a small change yesterday and put in quarantine early this morning.

 

[vetteguy53081]

No there was no prolapse. Just white underbelly. More like picture below (not my original photo)

As stated noticed a small change yesterday and put in quarantine early this morning.

This looks to be bacterial from rubbing or injury but without video, hard to confirm.