OMG something happened that I have not seen in decades. A dead fish inside the tank. I normally find them on the floor. It was the female stripped cardinal.
It was hanging, stuck on a thread from a spaghetti worm. How appropriate as I love spaghetti.
Yesterday she was eating and spawning, or trying to spawn anyway. She constantly spawns and the male never leaves her alone.
I removed her to do an autopsy because she looked very healthy and not hardly old enough to die of old age. The only thing about her was that she was filled with eggs. A little to much I thought.
The autopsy revealed perfectly clear gills, no internal problems, no cuts, bruises or infections but she was egg bound. That is what killed her and for some reason that has happened a few times in my tank. I lost 2 female mandarins that were egg bound.
I don't know if it has to do with the fact that fish in a confined tank are just constantly harassed by males and they can't get away or they spawn to much because of the constant harassment.
I never read anything on why some fish become egg bound in a tank but if the fish can't lay the eggs, they start to rot and expand causing the internal organs to become compressed.
I think thats a flaw in the design of all fish due to the enormous amount of eggs they carry and I assume sometimes they either form more eggs than can fit or one or more eggs die and start to decompose infecting the rest of them.
At least it is interesting and gives me something to research. I will not replace her now because I am moving and will probably lost a lot or everything soon.
It was hanging, stuck on a thread from a spaghetti worm. How appropriate as I love spaghetti.
Yesterday she was eating and spawning, or trying to spawn anyway. She constantly spawns and the male never leaves her alone.
I removed her to do an autopsy because she looked very healthy and not hardly old enough to die of old age. The only thing about her was that she was filled with eggs. A little to much I thought.
The autopsy revealed perfectly clear gills, no internal problems, no cuts, bruises or infections but she was egg bound. That is what killed her and for some reason that has happened a few times in my tank. I lost 2 female mandarins that were egg bound.
I don't know if it has to do with the fact that fish in a confined tank are just constantly harassed by males and they can't get away or they spawn to much because of the constant harassment.
I never read anything on why some fish become egg bound in a tank but if the fish can't lay the eggs, they start to rot and expand causing the internal organs to become compressed.
I think thats a flaw in the design of all fish due to the enormous amount of eggs they carry and I assume sometimes they either form more eggs than can fit or one or more eggs die and start to decompose infecting the rest of them.
At least it is interesting and gives me something to research. I will not replace her now because I am moving and will probably lost a lot or everything soon.