My flame tetra with the swelling and the funny spots on its sides passed a long column of thick black stool through a newly created hole in the swelling on its lower right side. Stool seemed to pass straight downward from stomach. After this the black spots were much smaller and the fish acted normal though grouchy.
Fish must have had a blocked intestine. I didn't think it could survive a perforated stomach and perforated skin, so this morning I euthanized it and did an autopsy.
The organs looked pretty normal except for the mangled remains of teh stomach, and the liver, which was too small, and brown. Fish ate a diet of omnivorous pellets.
I did one slide from the liver, and another from a general mash made of its intestines and other organs mixed in with them. Magnifying glass found no sign of anything alive, and nothing moved on any of the slides - no flagellates and seemingly no worms.
The only other strange thing I noticed was that on the intact side of the fish, the dark spots turned out to be holes in the muscle of the fish, the exact size and location of those two spots. These holes existed before I opened up the fish and were the source of the black spot atleast on that side of its body.
I repeat that the black spots appeared suddenly several days ago. My flame tetras do not have any spots or stripes behind their gills.
I took alot of photos of some strange things. Some or most may be bubbles or fat globs, but many of them seemed to have internal structure. Probably teh most interesting are 2845 through 2848. Tehre were alot of rod-like things in the liver that were way too big to be bacteria and were not fungus. Some may be blood cells.
Most views are 400x. Some are 100x. The last of them were done with methylene blue, which could be pulled on some of my slides but not all of them. (I added a drop of dechlorinated tap water to each of my smears.)
The fish probably did have an infection by the time I did the autopsy. It may or may not have ahd one to begin with.
If there are fat globs in the liver, are my fish developing fatty liver disease? The liver was dark brown, not light yellow.
http://pets.webshots.com/album/568735069KEjdGu
It is possible to get any given photo its original size by clicking on it and then on the button that appears in the lower right hand corner when you mouse over it.
Does anyone recognize anything pathological on the slides? Should I give my other fish anti-parasite medicine anyhow, or wait? The other fish seem fine.
I don't know if I've actually posted to this forum or not; yesterday I was having trouble. My
pH is normal for it, my
ammonia and nitrtites are 0, my nitrates are 5 - 10, my phosphates are high compared with the tap water. I've had the tetra for six months. The aquarium has been set up for six months. I did a 30%
water change and cleaned the gravel. I also tried feeding peas and
brine shrimp.
Yours,
Dora Smith
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