Hogchoker Sole Got It's Head Stuck And Died!

[Dave Legacy]

I came home today and did the usual Hogchoker search. I finally found him in a little "tunnel" in a piece of driftwood. I lifted up the wood to find that the sole managed to get it's head stuck, pretty deeply, in a crack on the underside of the wood. Worm still in it's mouth! It must have been after some food, got it's gill covers clamped shut, and suffocated? Does that make sense? Has this ever happened to any of you before?

Should I expect this to happen again in the future? I can't believe this happened. What a freak accident. =(

 

[AMS]

I came home today and did the usual Hogchoker search. I finally found him in a little "tunnel" in a piece of driftwood. I lifted up the wood to find that the sole managed to get it's head stuck, pretty deeply, in a crack on the underside of the wood. Worm still in it's mouth! It must have been after some food, got it's gill covers clamped shut, and suffocated? Does that make sense? Has this ever happened to any of you before?

Should I expect this to happen again in the future? I can't believe this happened. What a freak accident. =(

Sorry to hear about your loss Dave. Indeed, a freak accident, I would not expect it to happen again. How large was this "tunnel"?

 

[Fella]

That's terrible to hear Dave. From this though, I'll make sure I don't have any tunnels in my freshwater sole tank.

Sorry again for your loss.

 

[nmonks]

I lost a Corydoras catfish this way. Got itself stuck in a shell, spines locked and lodged! I now make sure that anything cave-like in my tanks has two entrances, so even if a fish gets stuck, at least it won't suffocate, and I'll have time to rescue it.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[Dave Legacy]

The Hoggy was 2" long, about 1.25" wide, and the "tunnel" so to speak was about the same dimensions. When I saw it in there I wasn't shocked but it did seem a little out of the ordinary. I thought it died and one of the fiddler crabs pulled it in there. You'd be amazed on how tightly it was wedged into that crack. I actually had to wiggle it back and forth quite a while before it finally came free and it was almost 1/2" in the crack... half a worm still hanging out of it's mouth.

I've had something similar happen to a Royal Gramma Pseudochromis a long time ago when I had a FOWLR tank. This was kind of a wierd situation. It had to have been uncomfortable to squeeze into that crack but I guess it's appetite took over and the food was just more important than it's own life. Oh well, I'll just bury that part of the driftwood next time around.

I already placed and order for a new one. Unfortunetly they didn't have any larger than the one I had so maybe cracks will still be an issue. Or like AMS said, maybe just a one time thing. I had just gotten this little guy onto frozen foods too... back to the drawing board.

 

[AMS]

Or you could fill the crack in with silicone or a suitably sized rock instead of buying a whole new piece of wood.

 

[Dave Legacy]

Or you could fill the crack in with silicone or a suitably sized rock instead of buying a whole new piece of wood.

AMS,

I'll probably shoot it with some silicone just for good measure. The crack is only aboue 2mm is diameter... it's incredibly small. I would have to coat all my pieces of wood in order to ensure this would never happen again. I think I'll probably modify that one piece and then try again.

Sucky thing about shipping fish across country right now is the temperature. When I recieved my hogchoker sole last month it was 85F and I was sweating it... this week it's 95F+ on average so I was a bit hesitant to ship another this week. It's being packaged in a styrofoam cooler with an icepack this time... probably be ok.