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My 12.5" sailfin just died, and the only thing that seemed to be wrong with him was a bout of constipation. He seemed fine yesterday, other than appearing to be bound. I fed him some cucumber, hoping that would take care of it. He never touched it, and got more and more listless. He did manage to pass what was bothering him though. I eventually ended up taking him to the top of the tank so he could gulp air. (He was a very hand-friendly specimen) Unfortunately it wasn't enough, he died about an hour ago. Anyone have any ideas? Tank is totally stable, no problems with any contamination, ammo/nit levels are nil, ph fine, temp fine. No new fish or plants, no new foods, nothing.

i am no expert but i believe the constapation you mention could be a digestive track blockage (or maybe a parasite??). I have heard (don't know for sure) that too much protien and not enough bulk fiber/vegetable matter (depending on species) wiil cause this type of blockage in some plecos and they then eventually die.

Well, definitely it was not a lack of fiber, he ate tons of greens, but I hadn't considered an intestinal parasite. What baffled me was the suddeness of it...Friday I vacuumed my tank, and as usual no sooner had I done that then he messed it up again. Obviously there were no problems then. 36 hours later though he was appearing blocked, and then seemed to have passed it, and then a few short hours after that died in my hand.

How old was he?

Just about 2 years old, near as I can tell. He was an inch long when I bought him 20 months ago, so I figure he couldn't have been more than 2 or 3 months at the time.