Autopsy of GSP

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Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.

We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.

While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.

Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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cds333
Puffer Fry
Posts: 21
Joined: Sat Aug 25, 2018 6:41 pm
Location (country): East Coast USA

Autopsy of GSP

Post by cds333 »

I have not had much luck with GSPs lately. My second little green friend succumbed to his illness yesterday. He was no doubt already weak from his trip to the LFS, where the tank already had cottony fungus that appeared on him the day after I brought him home, which I successfully rid him of. Unfortunately something else was wrong with him and within a week or so he stopped eating. I treated him with general cure and an additional dose of metro to no avail.

I cannot tell anything from the autopsy but I hoped someone more experienced may notice something amiss. (autopsy images below)

I know I should not buy fish of questionable health but these are so rare around here I have to take the a chance when they do pop up.

Thank you
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Pufferpunk
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Re: Autopsy of GSP

Post by Pufferpunk »

Often, once a fish is off food & emaciated like that, it is quite difficult to get them to eat again.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
cds333
Puffer Fry
Posts: 21
Joined: Sat Aug 25, 2018 6:41 pm
Location (country): East Coast USA

Re: Autopsy of GSP

Post by cds333 »

But do the organs look normal? I have no experience with diseased fish in that way. I was told that some causes of death will be obvious, i.e. parasites will be visible in the intestines.

Someone just said it looks like TB/wasting disease. I notice that one of the symptoms is the bent spine. hmm...
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Pufferpunk
Queen Admin
Posts: 32764
Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles
Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
Location: Chicago
Contact:

Re: Autopsy of GSP

Post by Pufferpunk »

Nah... I see that bent body all the time on emaciated puffers. I'm not an ichthyologist though, so don't know much about their innards. I did a necropsy once though & found fatty liver disease (hard, dark liver) because it had been fed feeder fish most of its life.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
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