My Choc. Pl*co died and I have a question...

[Ben]

Hi all,

It's always sad when there's a death in the tank. So the above died and
this morning when I fished him out, I noticed he had a very green belly.
It was not green like something growing on him, it was from the inside
out.

I'm curious if this is indecitive of some other problem or does this
happen to them when they die?

-Ben

[RedForeman ©®]

can't totally answer your question, but some ideas come to mind, as in how
long did you have it, versus how long it was supposed to live... it may have
been old age... or, it's even likely that it got an internal parasite if
there were any fish introduced in the last 2-3 months....

but I've seen it pretty regularly that after a fish dies, the owner will do
an autopsy to see if there were blockages in the intestine, digestive
system, and urinary tract, which are the three biggies....


"Ben" > wrote in message
...
> Hi all,
>
> It's always sad when there's a death in the tank. So the above died and
> this morning when I fished him out, I noticed he had a very green belly.
> It was not green like something growing on him, it was from the inside
> out.
>
> I'm curious if this is indecitive of some other problem or does this
> happen to them when they die?
>
> -Ben
>

[Ben]

RedForeman ©® wrote:

> can't totally answer your question, but some ideas come to mind, as in how
> long did you have it, versus how long it was supposed to live... it may have
> been old age... or, it's even likely that it got an internal parasite if
> there were any fish introduced in the last 2-3 months....

I don't know how old but it wasn't that big. (I know, that's not always
a great way to figure out age). I think he's been in the tank longer
than that and he was the last purchase.

> but I've seen it pretty regularly that after a fish dies, the owner will do
> an autopsy to see if there were blockages in the intestine, digestive
> system, and urinary tract, which are the three biggies....

Hmmm... I was thinking about doing that. I haven't yet decided though.
Although, he's frozen now so I might have missed the opportunity.

Thanks for the comments.

-Ben

[RedForeman ©®]

> > can't totally answer your question, but some ideas come to mind, as in
how
> > long did you have it, versus how long it was supposed to live... it may
have
> > been old age... or, it's even likely that it got an internal parasite if
> > there were any fish introduced in the last 2-3 months....
>
> I don't know how old but it wasn't that big. (I know, that's not always
> a great way to figure out age). I think he's been in the tank longer
> than that and he was the last purchase.
>
> > but I've seen it pretty regularly that after a fish dies, the owner will
do
> > an autopsy to see if there were blockages in the intestine, digestive
> > system, and urinary tract, which are the three biggies....
>
> Hmmm... I was thinking about doing that. I haven't yet decided though.
> Although, he's frozen now so I might have missed the opportunity.
>
> Thanks for the comments.
>
> -Ben

personally, I never can bring myself to doing it... I'm somewhat attached to
them, had them for years, and just can't do it...

[jessejoe]

In article >,
Ben > wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> It's always sad when there's a death in the tank. So the above died and
> this morning when I fished him out, I noticed he had a very green belly.
> It was not green like something growing on him, it was from the inside
> out.
>
> I'm curious if this is indecitive of some other problem or does this
> happen to them when they die?
>
> -Ben


My pl*cos get "very green bellies" when I feed them big chunks of
zucchini. Very green swolen bellies, actually. Again, I'm not pretending
to be sure, but I'd lean toward the intestinal blockage line of
reasoning. Either that, or he just *happened* to have a big meal and
then give up the ghost.

*scritch scratch on the head*

You didn't notice he'd done serious damage to any of your plants, did
you? Maybe....the plastic kind? I've seen a pl*co do funny things in
search of grub.

jessejoe

[Ben]

jessejoe wrote:
> My pl*cos get "very green bellies" when I feed them big chunks of
> zucchini. Very green swolen bellies, actually. Again, I'm not pretending
> to be sure, but I'd lean toward the intestinal blockage line of
> reasoning. Either that, or he just *happened* to have a big meal and
> then give up the ghost.

I'm going with intestinal blockage as he didn't look swollen, just green.

> You didn't notice he'd done serious damage to any of your plants, did
> you? Maybe....the plastic kind? I've seen a pl*co do funny things in
> search of grub.

No, there was none that I saw eaten, etc.

Thanks for the info/advice/etc.
-Ben