I Have Never Seen Fish Die This Way

[Nenana]

 Hello everyone,
 
 So I am a little freaked out because I just lost one of my female sword tails in a very weird way. The tank is 10 gal. I have 3 guppies in there and 3 female sword tails. My water parameters are good. I have live plants in the tank. The temperature of the water is about 76 F.   I have not had a death in the tank for the last 3 months at least. The last fish that died was a year and a half old guppy so I think he was just old. All the fish seems healthy with no visible symptoms of disease. I had the tank set up since last May and these sword tails were born and raised in it.
 
 So here is what happen. It might of been the food. I fed them 3 algae pallets from those for plecos. My fish likes them too and I have many snails that pile up on them and finish the left overs. On the next evening I noticed the female floating on top with a very large belly. It was not dropsy because her scails looked normal it was just that she did not seem to be able to go down to the bottom - looked like full of air. I did a water change and added salt because that is all I could of come up with. She did not eat that day she just floated up there. Then on the next morning she was swimming fine- her belly was not that bloated and she was able to go down to the bottom but was kind of hiding in the plants. She was responding on tapping on the wall but just was preferring to hide in the back of the tank.  I was unsure if it is a disease or she was just hiding so I left her. I worked night shift and I just woke up and the fish was dead in the same plant she was hiding.... However here is the thing her belly was swollen, white colored and her guts were all out !!!!!!!!!!!! It looked like her belly exploded where her anal part is. It looked like she had hernia very disturbing and completely freaked me out.... I mean not everyone get to see their dead fish from inside.... I looked at her and did not notice anything else. It just looks like her belly got so big it popped through where she poops.... I did not see any snails around her trying to eat her and she was in such a way in the fish tank that i do not think any fish had the chance to eat her or anything like that....
 
  Can anyone tell me if that ever happen to them and what is it so I know how to prevent it for my other fish.... Poor little thing I really hope she was not in a lot of pain... it is so disturbing. I hope it is not some kind of parasite. I tried online but there is no information that describes my case.
 
 
 Thanks for reading all info will be appreciated.  My other 2 female sword tails look perfect and were all happy to see me. I will leave them hungry today and do a 25 % water change and observe them for a week. I hope this is not something serious.
 
 Have a good week
 Happy Monday I guess...

 

[attibones]

I really think that you should not be dropping the algae. Swordtails and guppies need less algae than that. They need to have a high quality flake, pellet or some frozen brine or something of that nature. A fish's stomach is about the size of its eye, so use that as a guide. I believe you are right to fast them for a day or two. Cut back on the amount of food you are giving the fish. Also, be aware, that it would be best to upgrade to a larger tank if possible. 

 

[RobberyinCSharp]

I agree. This sounds like some sort of constipation or swelling from the pellets. It was probably the pellet food....for instance, some birds, like pidgeons, cannot digest rice which is why it's illegal to throw rice at weddings now. It causes gas buildup in their intestintes/stomach, and they have no way of releasing this gas (to put it bluntly, pidgeons can't fart ). When the gas builds up too much, their innards explode and they die. It's possible a similar phenomenon was occuring in your fish.

Definitely fast the fish and keep the algae wafers away from them. Go with good old fashioned fish flakes, and since they've been eating so much algae, it might not be a bad idea to give them some brine shrimp or bloodworms for extra nutrition.

Good luck!

 

[attibones]

I agree. This sounds like some sort of constipation or swelling from the pellets. It was probably the pellet food....for instance, some birds, like pidgeons, cannot digest rice which is why it's illegal to throw rice at weddings now. It causes gas buildup in their intestintes/stomach, and they have no way of releasing this gas (to put it bluntly, pidgeons can't fart

). When the gas builds up too much, their innards explode and they die. It's possible a similar phenomenon was occuring in your fish.

 
Almost all starches are bad for birds actually. One should never throw bread to ducks either. Just a side note.
 
Oh! Nenana, frequently when I'm worried that my fish have been eating too much (I have a certain fish who will eat everything she sees), I wait one day to feed and then wait until I next see the fish poop, just so I can be sure the fish isn't constipated. 

 

[Nenana]

 Ok thank you for these words guys it really freaked me out . You do not think it is a parasite of any sort right I was wondering if I should do a parasite treatment just in case but I know it is not healthy to just dump medicine in there with no reason... I am going to let them stay hungry for a few days and watch how they are doing, also I have been looking into upgrading to a larger tank, I have been hunting on craigslist for a good deal but all of the good set ups so far come with fish haha and I do not need more fish than what I already have I might be able to pick up a 20 gal long tank for free but it needs a little work on it so I will think about the options and upgrade at some point. 
 
 Thank you for reading my long post... poor little fishy she was not even 6 months old... I will miss her, no more algea pallets for these piggies for sure.