Fish vomiting

[BlueLineAquaticsSC]

Tonight I tried my hand at making gel fish food for the first time and when it was set I fed a cube to my lungfish. He munched on it but wasn’t to into it. About 20 minutes later he swam away into a corner and started violently projectile vomiting up the food, and I emphasize violently, so much so that I heard him throwing up before I saw him, and yes it was literally projecting, spraying out a good 4” vomiting.

The food was made from blanched spinach, carrot, and bell pepper, raw tilapia, flake, and pure unflavored gelatin. I siphoned out the vomit and left over food and he looks to be doing ok so I’m not sure if there is anything else to be done. I was considering epson salt but I don’t know there salt sensitivity.

[ScandiDefense]

Woahhhhh! Never thought that fish can vomit! Is he alright now? Activity level as usual?

[BlueLineAquaticsSC]

He seems to be fine right now, I’ll hold off feeding him again for a while. 

[PineSong]

Please post back and update if he’s still well in a few days. Maybe it was stuck going down and he ejected it because he couldn’t swallow it? I know nothing about lungfish anatomy or feeding. Sounds like it would be scary to see!

[Gannon]

On 1/16/2023 at 12:02 AM, BlueLineAquaticsSC said:

Tonight I tried my hand at making gel fish food for the first time and when it was set I fed a cube to my lungfish. He munched on it but wasn’t to into it. About 20 minutes later he swam away into a corner and started violently projectile vomiting up the food, and I emphasize violently, so much so that I heard him throwing up before I saw him, and yes it was literally projecting, spraying out a good 4” vomiting.

The food was made from blanched spinach, carrot, and bell pepper, raw tilapia, flake, and pure unflavored gelatin. I siphoned out the vomit and left over food and he looks to be doing ok so I’m not sure if there is anything else to be done. I was considering epson salt but I don’t know there salt sensitivity.

Was is different from just spitting it back up? Didn't know or think this was possible. 

[BlueLineAquaticsSC]

On 1/17/2023 at 5:14 PM, Gannon said:

Was is different from just spitting it back up? Didn't know or think this was possible. 

Yes, lungfish actually almost always spit up their food to eat it, they kind of chew it up into a tube, spit it up, and then slurp it down. I’ve seen my lungfish do that many times and this was definitely different, projectile vomiting about 4” away (would have gone farther but it was sitting the side) hard enough to make it audible for me to hear across the room, sounded kind of like air being let out of a balloon. All the vomit was pretty liquid too so I don’t think he gagged. He is doing fine now, eating and acting completely normal. 

On 1/18/2023 at 2:24 AM, BlueLineAquaticsSC said:

Yes, lungfish actually almost always spit up their food to eat it, they kind of chew it up into a tube, spit it up, and then slurp it down. I’ve seen my lungfish do that many times and this was definitely different, projectile vomiting about 4” away (would have gone farther but it was sitting the side) hard enough to make it audible for me to hear across the room, sounded kind of like air being let out of a balloon. All the vomit was pretty liquid too so I don’t think he gagged. He is doing fine now, eating and acting completely normal.

 

Edited January 18 by BlueLineAquaticsSC