Filefish - Tassled Chaetoderma pencilligera

[Chin_Lee]

Please provide your experience in this poll:

• Use the top 9 poll questions if your fish has passed away.
• Use the bottom 7 poll questions if you currently own this fish.
• Multiple polls are allowed.
• Select the best answer to the best of your knowledge.
• Adding comments or elaborating on the cause of death in a post is encouraged.

The options are as follows:

died within 0-3 months
died within 4-6 months
died within 7-9 months
died within 10-12 months
died within 13-18 months
died within 19-24 months
died within 2-3 years
died within 3-4 years
died after 5 years +
currently alive 0-6 months
currently alive 7-12 months
currently alive over 1 year
currently alive over 2 years
currently alive over 3 years
currently alive over 4 years
currently alive 5 years +

[Johnny Reefer]

WARNING: The next post contains graphic photos of a necropsy. Not for the squeamish.

I lost my Tasseled Filefish overnight Wednesday-Thursday. To constipation, I think. What do you think?

At first I thought it might be egg-binding and had even bought some epsom salts in consideration of an epsom salt dip. Turns out that was an incorrect diagnosis and would have been the wrong treatment, as there were no eggs in the abdominal cavity.

I had also thought it might be constipation. And after the necropsy, this looks more like it. One main difference between this fish and the other Tasseled I still have is that this fish ate Nori and the other one does not. I had fed Nori the night before this guy showed the swelled abdominal area. I have read that the treatment for this would have been a few drops of cod liver oil into the fish's mouth. Obviously, I left it for too late to do anything other than monitoring.

Pictures......

Notice the protrusion at the anus.


The fish had attained a length of 6 1/4" from mouth to caudal penducle, 8 3/4" overall. It was the size of a quarter when I first got it. Had it for just over two years.


More pictures....these next two are the more graphic ones....

[Johnny Reefer]

Notice the stomach is green.


The stomach punctured.

[christyf5]

Thats not the stomach, its the gallbladder The stomach is attached to the loop of intestine that is directly below it. Not really knowing about the internal workings of this fish its possible that it has something in its stomach that was backing things up. The gallbladder does look slightly larger than it should be. The first photo of your fish with the vent (anus)protruding is a good indicator that something is up, was it like that in life as well as death? The liver also looks pretty pale. Sorry I wasn't closer and I'd take some samples and have a look see whats up.

So sorry to hear about your fish, he was truly magnificent

[Johnny Reefer]

Originally Posted by christyf5

Thats not the stomach, its the gallbladder

Oh, . At the risk of revealing that I am somewhat of an amateur at necropsies....the book I have at home on fish anatomy is not so comprehensive as to even make mention of the gall bladder at all. Given that it's content was green, and it is roughly the same size and postion as the diagram in the book, I just assumed it was the stomach. I found online that the gall bladder is actually quite small and will become distended due to lack of eating. The fish stopped eating some time ago, so that explains that. Any ideas on how the contents would become green?

Originally Posted by christyf5

.... The first photo of your fish with the vent (anus)protruding is a good indicator that something is up, was it like that in life as well as death? ....

Not exactly. The protrusion had receded while it was still alive, but it looked like intenstines? were showing at the opening. Kinda like a baby's head at birth, if I can use that analogy with some forgiveness .

[christyf5]

Heh no problem Mark, you're right though, the gallbladder is usually one of those organs that is passed over because its usually small and unnoticeable. The reason it is green is because it is full of bile, which is used to break down food enzymatically. Ever had a really rough night vomiting? Eventually you get to the really foul tasting yellow stuff, thats bile.

Anyway, yeah I'd say judging from the look of that intestine, see how that loop I pointed out is kind of transparent? It shouldn't be, which indicates that the fish hasn't been eating in some time. It can be pretty hard to judge what the cause of that was, it could very well be constipation or a myriad of other things including a bacterial infection.

Ok so what you've said about the anus protruding a bit, I'd definitely vote bacterial infection. Once an infection takes hold there is usually some ascites (fluid buildup) in the abdominal cavity, which can cause the intestines to bulge out and well, they sometimes find that opening.

[dsaundry]

Lost one due to a carpet surfing accident..but the other one is doing great. It did however develop a growth by the tail area that was hard like a sort of gristle..however I performed a bit of minor surgery and he seems quite happy now..fun little fish....

[Johnny Reefer]

Hey d, you can re-vote now, and...

...interesting about the growth near the tail you mentioned. The one I still have has a growth on it too. On the caudal fin. Kind of a dark greenish colour. Sorta looks like lice, although I'm pretty sure it's not. Never touched it, so I don't know the texture.

Cheers,

[Skimmer Juice]

I had one for about 8 months , it was a great fish , no problems with it eating or anything , and of course he jumped, as I could not find him in the tank , so I chacked on the floor and of course hes laying there, I might still try another one just with lids. I also had a small one about the size of a toonie , I had him for a couple of months , I sold him to a freind and of course in the firsat week he was dead, stuck to a seio powerhead, thats why I quit using powerheads , I was sick of pulling fish out of them , so I just changed up what I could keep (coral wise)