Petricola Choked to Death on a Pea?

[DJRansome]

I see toddnbecka on this forum. Toddnbecka was kind enough to answer this same post on Cichlid-forum (thanks!) but I wondered if others have had anything like this happen? I'm afraid to give them veges now!

My African Malawi tank was finally cycled, and on December 29 I added 3 1" Synodontis Petricola. They were happy and ate eagerly from Day 1.

Two weeks ago I put a frozen, thawed pea in the tank (no skin). They played with it a little, but seemed to prefer their pellets.

One week later I found my littlest Petricola dead. I fished him out and could see no damage and no symptoms of illness. His mouth was a little open, and guess what was in there? The bright green of a pea!

Do you think he got too big a chunk in his mouth and couldn't get it out? It had to have been in there for 7 days. I would have thought it would have disintegrated in that time.

[troi]

One week later I found my littlest Petricola dead. .... His mouth was a little open, and guess what was in there? The bright green of a pea!

Do you think he got too big a chunk in his mouth and couldn't get it out? It had to have been in there for 7 days. I would have thought it would have disintegrated in that time.

One would think it would disintegrate, but if the fish was dead by that time and not moving, it wouldn't dislodge from the current.

THis happens in goldfish, so we microwave the pea and/or squish it to a pulp before adding it to the tank.

troi

[DJRansome]

No, he was alive on the 6th day, because I saw him at feeding time. Poor little thing was swimming around with it stuck in there for 6 days. Maybe he couldn't get enough water flow in through his mouth and out through his gills and died of lack of oxygen? Or maybe he starved because he could not eat...he was so little, maybe 6 days was enough?

Thanks for the reply.

[troi]

\ Maybe he couldn't get enough water flow in through his mouth and out through his gills and died of lack of oxygen? Or maybe he starved because he could not eat...he was so little, maybe 6 days was enough?

Thanks for the reply.

I would vote for not getting enough oxygenate water past the pea. Six days shouln't starve him.

troi