Fish Mortality

[folyet]

I love my fish tank...I really do

I take such care with it, and think I am doing everything right.

Yet, every little while, I have a fish die for no reason. I can understand when I see a fish that is stressed or showns signs of distress, and then the death is expected.

However, when all the fish seem fine one day, and then the next day you notice one fish dead, with no sign sof injury or disease, it makes you wonder.
I do weekly water changes. All water parameters are fine 0 ammonia and nitrite, and 10 - 20 ppm nitrate

Yet I seem to lose a fish every couple of weeks or so. Sometimes, I may go a month without a loss, and then maybe 1 or 2 in a week

To make things worse, my neighbour has a much larger tank with cichlids, and he never does water changes, or maybe one every few months, and he says none of his fish ever die, or very rarely one dies

I like to know how often people on here lose fish...never, hardly ever, routinely...etc

 

[wirralbull]

only new fish really. once established and settled hardly loose any

 

[folyet]

How long do you consider a fish being established...a week, a month..several months

I just lost a Lemon Tetra for no apparent reason...found him dead..looked fine no sign of illness or injury
I had these Lemon Tetras for about 6 or 7 months

 

[wirralbull]

couple of wks really. enough time to get over change of system and any illnes they mite be carrying alrdy.

 

[XxPlatyxX]

Once the fish have astablished there place in the pecing order of the tank they will be fine. Is it males, Females or a mix of both. and how big is your tank.
sometimes death can come from diseases you cant see.

 

[creeker]

What species of fish are we talking about here? Some are weaker than others. Highly bred Platies and Fancy Guppies come to mind.

 

[The Taffy Apple]

Unfortunately i have suffered a small number of losses as of late. I can't put it down to anything but age... an Xray and Cardinal Tetra that died overnight i had for 2-3 years... the one exception is one of my male Golden Ram, showed no amount of stress yet again died over-night. That one i was particulary gutted about.
With regards to your original comment regarding your neighbour,i would hazard a suggestion that his tank is simply alot older, stronger and more matured than yours and nothing to worry about... it would be unfair to put your fishkeeping in comparison with his, given i can only presume his tank is BIG

Terry.

 

[folyet]

I have a 46 gallon tank approx 180 liters I think
I have 6 Lemon Tetras,3 Black Skirts tetras,3 cherry barbs, 5 Harlequin rasboras, 5 glass cats, 3 Leopard Corys, 2 Green Emerald Cats, 3 Khuli loaches, 2 Farlowella cats,3 black neons and 1 Angel Fish

I do not think I am overstocked. I have a 2213 eheim filter plus a Penguin over the back bio wheel filter..never miss a water changer...parameters are always good

not sure about the sexes of the fish

I have had the tank for over 1 1/2 years so I assume it is fairly aged and established

I feed them good food I think...mostly Omega one foods...flakes, plus spirulina wafers and shrimp pellets and algae wafers for the farlowella, of which one seems to be getting aggressive and bullying other fish away from the tablets

I just don't know what it could be....

 

[onidrase]

What sticks out to me is how many schooling fish you're keeping in a trio as opposed to a real school. This might lead to a shorten lifespan. IMO schools should be a minimum of 6, preferably more.

 

[creeker]

What sticks out to me is how many schooling fish you're keeping in a trio as opposed to a real school. This might lead to a shorten lifespan. IMO schools should be a minimum of 6, preferably more.

I agree with onidrase. That does induce stress.

 

[FishBlast]

Ever since my tank has been established, only 1 mysterious disappearance: a 3 month old fry that ate 3 bloodworms at once and turned into a basket ball, then by the evening her tail was always lowered. By morning, she was nowhere to be found. She was too big to fit into any fish's mouth too, so I guess she died and then got eaten.

 

[folyet]

They all started out in groups of 6 or so, but with time one dies, then another dies, and so on...so that is why there are only trios left

 

[Tizer]

I get the odd one keel over now and again, found a ram stuck to the side of my power head the other night, had half its guts chomped out It happens.

 

[This Old Spouse]

I lose a fish every now and again, and I can only chalk it up to old age. No other symptoms, just a floater.

 

[tomtomtom1230]

Likewise. I went away for a week and came back to find that 3 of my neons are missing. Probably died and then eaten. Everybody was healthy before I left but these things happen, you can't be getting all sentimental when a fish dies! It's to be expected if you're still relatively new to the hobby but don't let it dishearten you - the more mature your tank becomes, the better it'll be at supporting life in the way of fish Keep at it, I'd bolster your fish's numbers gradually again (especially the schooling ones like the tetras), no more than 3 fish at a time and no more than 6 fish every fortnight.