Can fish choke on their food?

[Torvik9]

I was feeding my reef lobster some cut up silver sides, and one of the clowns snatched it up and took off running - not uncommon, so I didn't think much of it. Next thing I know, one of the clowns is struggling to swim, then rapidly losing color and turning white. Before I could even process what was happening, he was basically gone - all within 5 minutes. I'm trying to figure out if I should be concerned about the food or if he just choked on it. Either way, I'm pretty upset...lol

[stardog]

Never seen anything like that with my tropicals in 40 years, no experience with reefs or marines though.

[Torvik9]

I'm stumped, I've never seen anything like it - a fish turning that white, that fast. I've been around fish my whole life, and I've never witnessed anything even close to that before.

[stardog]

I was feeding my reef lobster some cut up silver sides, and one of the clowns snatched it up and took off running - not uncommon, so I didn't think much of it. Next thing I know, one of the clowns is struggling to swim, then rapidly losing color and turning white. Before I could even process what was happening, he was basically gone - all within 5 minutes. I'm trying to figure out if I should be concerned about the food or if he just choked on it. Either way, I'm pretty upset...lol

Not out of the question, I've had a puffer that was down for the count for 2 days after swallowing a whole shrimp whole, so maybe something similar happened with your clown.

[swiftfinch7]

ive had my oscar do the same thing after a fast feed, food came flying out, makes me think maybe it was something similar with your clown

[brixo]

Yeah, lionfish can gorge to death, seems plausible to me.

[Torvik9]

I guess I'm just having a streak of bad luck. Changed the water 2 days ago, and everything else in the tank seems fine. I finally got a handle on my cyno problem with more frequent water changes, so I'm thinking choking is the most likely explanation. I mean, I've never seen a healthy fish turn white and die in 5 minutes before. Now I'm wondering if I should bother getting another mate for my female clown. This was the second one, and the first one vanished into thin air (I'm pretty sure he jumped out and the dog had a snack). They're false percs, so I'm not sure if it's worth the hassle. Maybe I should try something different, like a fire goby? Any suggestions would be great. The female clown fought with this last one for a month and a half before he finally settled in, and I'm not sure I want to go through that again. The tank's empty otherwise, so it's not like there's any other fish to consider.

[Fable81]

Yeah, lionfish can gorge to death, seems plausible to me.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around how this happened. I mean, I've been around fish my whole life and never seen anything like this before. I know lionfish can eat themselves to death, but I've never seen a clown just turn white and die like that. It's just weird. I've seen fish choke before, but not like this.

[anglermatic]

He could've choked if the food got stuck, putting pressure on the gill rakers from inside the throat, making it hard for the fish to take in oxygen due to reduced surface area in the gills. It's like, if the fish can't *cough* out the food, it's a goner.