Liver Disease ?

[Ranchu Rancher]

I just had to euthanize one of my Ranchu’s. She had swollen to twice her normal diameter. It was not dropsy, after a good soak in vodka and clove oil, I opened her up. The liver was huge and there were what appeared to be fatty balls all over. Too large to be eggs and nowhere near that many. The other fish in the tank are fine. Is this a genetic thing or do I need to be looking for something else? I feed my fish Saki-Hikari, bloodworms, and homemade gel food.

Gregg

[bekko]

There is a fatty liver disease which is thought to be caused by a diet which is too high in fat and/or has a deficiency in an essential amino acid. What you are feeding them sounds pretty good unless it is old and the fats are rancid. Rancid fats can cause steatitis which is an accumulation of fats which the fish is not able to burn for energy. Vitamin E deficiency can have the same effect. Was the fat yellowish and thick (almost wax-like) or clear/pinkish and mushy?

-steve

[Cincy Ranchu]

Many years ago, the rage wage was high protien and a group of us bought trout and salmon pellet that were 52% protien and 11 or 12% fat. I ended up with a entire years worth of Ranchu that all looked pregnant but had fatty livers. Since then, I try to stay under 8% fat and vary the diet. Also you might crank back on the feed rate and volume, fat fish don't reproduce very well.
THX GH

[Ranchu Rancher]

Steve the fat was yellow and the consistency of wax. I buy my food in small quanities and keep it in air tight containers so I think rancid is out also all my other fish are fine. I only feed my fish two to three times a day depending on if I work, but I will cut back on the amount.

Gregg

[bigbettadan]

I think thats where the hibernation process comes into play. Some down time gives them a chance to burn some excess fat.......

Dan

[bekko]

I think that hard wax-like fat is the fat that accumulates in steatitis and which the fish is unable to use. The clear bubbly fat is transitory. When we were raising food fish we would see the hard yellow fat, but it was always lining the body cavity, not on the liver.

Since it only happened to the one fish, there could have been somthing about its metabolism that caused the problem. Could have been a genetic linkage or even a disease linkage.

-steve

[Ichthius]

Does it look anything like this?
http://merckveterinarymanual.com/mvm/htm/bc/exlfh44.htm

sounds like mycobacteria granulomas. As one visiting researcher told me once "all goldfish have mycobacteria until proven otherwise by a necropsy" that's why he switched from goldfish to zebrafish for his myco research.

High carbohydrates can also lead to fatty deposites. Or simply over feeding. I just picked up a buch of commons fed exclusively on dianichi but they were in with koi that were being power fed. They are fat as hell. There's a picture of these pigs on my blog.

[herp17]

Sounds like you need an acid-fast stain. :banana: