enjoy nature

Please see attached pic and please tell me what caused this fish to die? You can see a thin thread like blood coming from the opening. This sac got a little bigger in a 2 hour period. The whole office thought she was trying to give birth, as none of us had ever seen a fish give birth (to eggs or live fry). You could see her laboring, tired breathing, and then in a few hours, she was gone.

We used a thin sewing needle to open the sac in case there were babies waiting to come out. It was hard and tough, and kept wanting to slip back inside. Once we had it open, there seemed to be nothing inside of it. No sign of eggs or babies.


I am worried about other fish in the tank having a similar experience.
Does anyone have a diagnosis?

Attached Images

IMG_1719_edited.JPG (257.4 KB, 23 views)

TFA101

Same thing happened to me and a guppy. She gave birth to something like that except it was red and had young fish inside. I called the petstore and when giving the description, the woman on the other line nearly hurled. I think it's a miscarriage. Kinda like the thing in "Orca: The Killer Whale". Well, that was her conclusion anyway. I think it was a miscarriage too, cuz i tried putting her in a breeder net shortly after giving birth. This'll stress the fish out (i didn't know at the time) and could cause the mother to miscarriage. Mine died cuz the... whatever it is CUT HER OPEN. It was disgusting.

Shawnie

Welcome to fishlore! Im sorry for the loss of your fish..Im not sure what happened to her but someone will come along who might...goodluck!

enjoy nature

Thanks for your suggestion, TFA. I had wondered if it was something similar to a miscarriage. And yes, you were right about it being totally disgusting. It was so awful to know we had all been watching a "happy occasion", only to learn we had been watching her suffer and die.

Shawnie, thanks for the sympathy. It is an office tank, but some of us take motherhood very seriously!

I have attached another view of her strange condition.

Enjoys nature

Attached Images

IMG_1713_edited.JPG (151.9 KB, 15 views)

COBettaCouple

Welcome to Fishlore. We're sorry that you lost her to that. Unfortunately, livebearers do have complications like that occasionally with pregnancy.

I would think she had an ulcer, as they commonly occur in that location and we just lost a balloon platy to that condition earlier this week, but it would be pretty reddish. A miscarriage of sorts is the most likely cause.