Dissection/Biopsy-AKA Necropsy

I was reading up on aquarium techniques in a book called Advanced Marine Aquarium Techniques - "Guide to Successful Professional Marine Aquarium Techniques". Aside from all the usuals you here (i.e. filtration, sumps, fuges, lighting, etc.) I came upon a section on necropsy: the biopsy of marine animals in aquariums. Basically it suggests to do a biopsy on all animals, mainly fish and larger inverts, who die of unknown causes. It goes deep into detail, from telling about what equipment/supplies you will need to exactly how to preform a necropsy.

Though I find this to be kind of creepy, as it is the dissetion of a pet and I wonder is this nessicary and do other aquariusts actually do this?

I also thought this does seem legit.

But my I guess my question is more for those of you with more experience. Do/have YOU ever preform(ed) necrposies on these few-and-far-between instances? In such cases as an unknown parasite or other unknown variable/cause of death?

Or does this retain to those more geared toward "professionals"?

 

I have never done this, but my very good LFS will do it for you if you freeze the fish and bring it into his store.

 

The book mentioned another thing. "The fresher the sample fish, the better, the more accurate the results will be. Specimen that have been frozen prior to dissection are useless. The tissues will have changed too drastically. Any fish that has been dead long enough for rigor mortis to set in will be much more difficult to examine."

 

yeah, it's legit. If you're a high end keeper with expensive fish it would probably be worth it. If you're spending more than $500 a whack on a single fish, you'd probably want to know how/why it died.

For the regular hobbyist like most of us, "sudden and mysterious fish death syndrome" usually suffices for a single loss if everything else checks out.

 

yes i've done necropsys on a range of animals from small/big birds, dogs, range of fish to find out how they have died. its a good practice especiall if the cause of a dieses or parasite that can be transmitted easily and isnt visable on the exterior of the animal, such as internal parasites. it can also show the animals age (in some species of fish) and if the problem was to do with diet or housing or water quality or stress or even if it was a genetic thing such as a cancer forming and restricting the blood flow. these are great for easing your mind on how the animal died especially if it is something you had no control over such as genetics and also great for finding out wether or not you need to treatthe entire tank for something. most people find it weird or creepy but its part of the business. you have to enjoy their lives but also learn from their deaths

 

I thought it was for the more experienced, but wasn't sure. I've been in the hobby for almost 2yrs now. Should I preform necropsies? I don't have a special room for my tank and am not spending hundreds of dollars on fish. What do you think? If this should be done then I should take the proper steps to be ready.

 

i wouldnt say its a necessity to perform necropsys but if you want to find out about fish anatomy and try and figure out why a fish has died then id say go for it. you may want to practice on a fish from the markets just to get a hint of what a 'normal' fishes internal anatomy would look like, noting textures and colours of organs. only basic tools are needed such as scalple, scissors, tweezers, gloves and a spray bottle for cleaning up mess for a better view. if you dont have a scalple then a sharp knife will do just fine.do your research and dont feel pressured to do it. i wouldnt say many people do it in the hobby but if you wish to then i'd say go for it

 

Well I'm only 16, so being in high school I'm taking biology now. We started dissecting last week. We will a do fish next month. The book recommended a basic dessection kit and a compound microscope.

 

you would only need a microscope if you are looking at individual cells within the tissue to look for cell rupturing or blood infused parasites. either way microscopes are pretty fun so id say go for it but deffinetly the dessection kit

 

Thanks! I could probably get a decent microscope for about $60-100. Where would I buy it and a dissection kit?