ThunderGoose
Well-Known Member
After the fishes' dinner tonight I was sitting in the living room, reading, when I heard a loud splash, bang, splash.
I looked up and saw my Carpenter's wrasse struggling. By the time I got to the tank he was laying on the sand. I picked him up and put him in the current from a powerhead to make sure water was flowing over his gills, figuring he was stunned.
Nope. He never started breathing again.
Water parameters all good (nitrates and phosphate low but detectable, alk around 7.5). I actually did a 8% water change earlier today. No signs of anything wrong in him or the other fish before the incident. No signs in the other fish since the incident.
So I pulled out my fancy dissection kit and did a necropsy. Not easy on a 2.5 inch fish. I looked at everything under the microscope. Liver - good, air bladder - good, intestines - good, heart - good. No signs of external or internal parasites.
What I did find was a little blood in the abdominal cavity. I think he ruptured something internal and bled out.
The questions that remain unanswered include: what caused him to jump? Was he startled? Did he really hit the lid that hard? (and it's stretched nylon mesh so is it really hard enough to hurt him?) OR did he get struck by the mantis shrimp that I haven't been able to catch? The mantis that hasn't even killed off much of my CUC? The one that I almost never see?
I have a few low quality pictures of the liver, swim bladder and the blood in the body cavity (plus an external shot) if anyone is morbid and wants to look. I didn't get too many photos because I was digiscoping through my microscope while trying to hold the fish in position. Just a little awkward.
Oh, and I've had him for 5 months and he went through a medicated QT and was eating great and showing no symptoms before tonight.
Not a happy way to end the week.
I looked up and saw my Carpenter's wrasse struggling. By the time I got to the tank he was laying on the sand. I picked him up and put him in the current from a powerhead to make sure water was flowing over his gills, figuring he was stunned.
Nope. He never started breathing again.
Water parameters all good (nitrates and phosphate low but detectable, alk around 7.5). I actually did a 8% water change earlier today. No signs of anything wrong in him or the other fish before the incident. No signs in the other fish since the incident.
So I pulled out my fancy dissection kit and did a necropsy. Not easy on a 2.5 inch fish. I looked at everything under the microscope. Liver - good, air bladder - good, intestines - good, heart - good. No signs of external or internal parasites.
What I did find was a little blood in the abdominal cavity. I think he ruptured something internal and bled out.
The questions that remain unanswered include: what caused him to jump? Was he startled? Did he really hit the lid that hard? (and it's stretched nylon mesh so is it really hard enough to hurt him?) OR did he get struck by the mantis shrimp that I haven't been able to catch? The mantis that hasn't even killed off much of my CUC? The one that I almost never see?
I have a few low quality pictures of the liver, swim bladder and the blood in the body cavity (plus an external shot) if anyone is morbid and wants to look. I didn't get too many photos because I was digiscoping through my microscope while trying to hold the fish in position. Just a little awkward.
Oh, and I've had him for 5 months and he went through a medicated QT and was eating great and showing no symptoms before tonight.
Not a happy way to end the week.
