Paroon Shark Died

[*Sonic*]

I have a paroon shark (he was still in his quarantine tank) and yes I do know how large they grow !!

Anyway he has been fine, eating happily etc etc

I did a 25% water change Thursday night

Friday night he was perfectly normal, but saturday morning he was struggling to swim, floating to the surface, swimming upside down(when he could swim) small mouth openings at the surface

The filters sort of pushed him around the tank a bit, no visbile signs of any thing wrong with him at all

He was and has been the only fish in the quarantine tank, after about half an hour of this he gave up and died

I did the water checks, Ammonia, Nitrite & Nitrate levels were all perfectly normal

Ive attached a pic of him, just after he died, but I cant work out why, as it appeared so suddenly

Steve

 

[WILDER]

Sounds like he had a swim bladder disorder, what do you feed the fish, R.I.P.

 

[CTS]

yup swimming bladder would be my guess

 

[*Sonic*]

I fed him a mix of frozen bloodworms, and frozen mussels, as this is what the LFS said they are best eating

I have since been told that the mussels are high in protein, and should be fed sparingly

My other LFS said that it is uncommon for Paroon's and other cats to get swim bladder disorders

What causes it?

Steve

 

[squall7733]

How old is it exactly maybe it was age related. Sometimes things just die.

 

[black angel]

Do you think he may have gotten stressed? From what ive read they need loads of swimming space with others of the same kind. Were you feeding him a carnivorous diet as well?

 

[*Sonic*]

He was about 4-5" long, so at a guess I would say he was still quite young

I only fed him on the blood worms, mussels, and once or twice I gave him a few lance fish

When he did eat, he actually ate the whole lump on whichever I gave him, he would circle the food a few times, then pounce and take it all in one go, causing him stomach to swell quite a bit, until he had digested the food

As he was still in my quarantine tank, swimming space was a bit limited, but this was only till he settled enough to go into the main tank

 

[kat and james]

he was definately a young specimen then, as these guys grow to massive, they live in asia, and are also known as the chao phraya giant catfish (the chao phraya is the river in bangkok) they local fishermen often use bait such as dogs other animal carcasses as bait to catch these fish.. they really arne't suited to home aquariums.

my guess would be that he died improper feeding, as i just read that both young and adults feed on fish and crustaceans.

sorry for your loss