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RE: Mysterious Death

Butch2693 — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 07:25:42 GMT

Thanks for the help. Now that you mention it that does make sense because it did take in a lot of air when it fed. I took your advice and purchased some sinking food so I'll see how that goes. Thanks again for the help

RE: Mysterious Death

Hailey — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 12:51:06 GMT

I see two possibilities, which may have been acting together. First, changing the filter cartridge may have upset the bacterial population to much and caused a mini-cycle. That would stress the fish enough that other things may kill it, or if the ammonia got bad enough, could kill it outright. I see this one as a rather small contributing factor, but you should test your ammonia and nitrite to be sure it isn't a problem now. The other issue, and I think what caused the problem (which I believe is a swimbladder issue) is the angel eating greedily at the top of the tank and gulping air. If they do this they can cause serious swimbladder and digestive tract issues that can cause infection and death. I would try to feed more sinking foods like pellets with such greedy fish, or soak the flakes first so the sink right away.

RE: Mysterious Death

Butch2693 — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 08:11:54 GMT

It didn't really look bloated at the time of death or before. As far as its diet, I fed it flake food once a day and would substitute flake food with frozen adult brine shrimp or frozen glass worms three times a week. The fish was able to right itself momentarily just to turn upside down again and it eventually just fell to the bottom of the tank upside down. Breathing wasn't heavy until the last hour or so before its death. I also saw it eating the day before I noticed him belly up (two days before death). This was the fish that would go to the top of the tank whenever someone walked into the room waiting for food. I read in Aquarium Fish International that it was a good idea to feed just once a day and skip a day once a week to let the pleco and other fish clean up before they get new food. If that sounds like its not enough I would love your opinion. As far as water changes go I changed the water (if I remember correctly) 5 days before death so the tank was due in about 2 days for another. I did however change the filter cartridge due to buildup a few days before it went bellyup. Thanks for your sympathy and again thanks for your help.

RE: Mysterious Death

Hailey — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 05:13:57 GMT

I'm sorry for your loss. It's hard to diagnose these things, but maybe we can narrow it down to some possibilities.

Was it bloated at all? What did you feed it? Was it able to right itself momentarily only to flip over again or was it too weak to really move much at all? Was it breathing heavily? When was the last time you saw it acting normal, particularly eating? And had you done anything to the tank in the two or three days before its death like a water change, other maintenance, etc?

Mysterious Death

Butch2693 — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:41:06 GMT

I have a 55 gallon tropical freshwater community tank. It has a seven mollies (Sailfin and lyretail), a pearl gourami, two chocolate gouramis, eight neon tetras, five zebra danios, four swordtails, and a pleco. I also had a beautiful marble anglefish that was by far my favorite fish. I bought him when he was in the "small" category. Since I got him he grew a good six or seven inches and was the most docile anglefish I've ever seen. Everyone has been happy in my tank and I haven't had a fish die in a good four to six months. Then one morning I was watching my fish and I noticed that the anglefish wasn't in his usual spot in the upper lefthand corner of the tank so I looked around for him and he was upside down resting on the plants but not yet dead. He was trying to straighten himself but his attempts were unsuccessful. He died the next day and I checked the water parameters and everything was normal. It is the wierdest thing and I would just like to know if anyone has any ideas why this sudden and saddening death would occur. The anglefish didn't seem to have oddities on the outside of its body. The other fish all seem to be doing fine. I've had the fish for about 8 months before its death. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.