Cause of death?

[Jitenon]

I woke up this morning and found my flame gourami dead, I examined it and it's stomach(?) had been opened... Over the past few weeks before it died I noticed that it's stomach became more visible. Any ideas on what it could've been?

[Rhaethe]

One of the first places (other than eyes) that other fish go for when they snack on corpses is the belly. So its likely that the gourami died of "some" cause and other fish in the tank snacked on it as opposed to the gourami dying of a burst tummy.

As far as what the fish died of, that would be hard to tell at this point, without other information. Dwarf gourami disease, bloat (caused by numerous other things) swim bladder disease, parasites, basterial infection. All of those things can cause the stomach to distend.

[VoidParadigm]

Unless the body was also blackish or darkened upon death, especially closer to the head, then I'd say you can rule out DGIV (Dwarf Gourami Iridovirus, aka DG disease.) However there's no real way to tell unless you've got yourself a science lab.

What else was in the tank?

Chances are another fish ripped open the stomach post-mortem. Most are omnivores, afterall. A meal is a meal.

[tanks4thememories]

Please Give us some more details like:
- Symptoms before death
- Water Parameters
- Tank Mates
- Diet

Sorry he passed.:22: