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How do vieja die?

To my understanding the main cause of bloat is stress.Stress can be caused by many things,overcrowding, bullying,sudden changes in water chemistry etc.
I'm not an expert on this subject but I wonder if a diet too rich in protein can be a trigger for stress that leads to bloat.
I know lots of keepers of thorichthys have reported sudden deaths with bloat type symptoms after feeding a diet high in bloodworms. I wonder if certain types of fish,mainly those with herbivorous tendencies have trouble passing such a food.This could be a trigger for stress with an end result of bloat.
Fish with these symptoms will often show little signs other than a bloated appearance to the stomach. They will also be a little subdued and hang on their own more than normal.
I'm guessing as your tank is well stocked and the lack of vegetable matter in the diet that your fish succumbed to bloat.
Maybe someone like Rd can chime in as I think he has a lot of knowledge in this area.
 
By the looks of that fish, and its age, I doubt that it's diet related, but honestly only a proper necropsy would answer that question. While excessive fat deposition is a serious concern for all tropical fish kept in captivity, 10% crude fast isn't what I would consider overly excessive, but quantity can certainly add to the excess equation. Protein is not the culprit, even the most herbivorous species of fish on the planet can excrete excess amino acids, different story with fatty acids as over time they can accumulate in and around organs such as the liver.

Any sudden change in diet can cause gastrointestinal upset, no different if one who isn't used to spicy foods fills up on tacos from a street vendor in Mexico City. As mentioned, any/all forms of stress, including a sudden change in diet can cause problems, one of them being an outbreak of Spironucleus vortens aka Hexamita, aka bloat. But again, without a necropsy performed by someone qualified, the cause of death of your fish is anyone's guess.
 
I'm certainly no expert, but thanks. Years ago I had a fish die prematurely, when I opened him up he had a large internal tumor like growth in his stomach area. Just as with all other life forms, sometimes it just comes down to luck of the draw genetics, etc, with no real hard & fast explanation as to why.
 
Today I've found out I've been erring pretty badly on my continuous water change. The nitrates are ~100 ppm.

Even if this wasn't the main cause of the vieja's passing, it certainly didn't help.
 
I cut it open yesterday. Found a lot of fat deposited in the abdominal cavity, which IDK if it's normal or not. But what looked like a liver had a strange appearance, badly eroded, light brown color.
 
No. The organs appeared clean of fat. It was all in the caudal half of the cavity but a lot of it. I kick myself now for not taking a picture.

It looked to me like the fish was storing up fat for the off season but IDK if cichlids or these cichlids do that.
 
Here is a video of the surviving Vieja melanura cichlid, ~14", in 4500 gal, filmed in Dec 2016, playing hide and seek with me. It pales up when I turn on a bunch of light for filming. Usually it is more colorful, as in the OP... but alive...

 
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