Unexplained Death

Jordan_Deus

Fish Crazy
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Three weeks ago I purchased 3 Ancistrus and a week later I bought 10 Cardinal tetras and 10 black phantom tetras. Today when I got home I noticed that one of the phantoms, that had been hiding in the val for the past week, was lying dead in the val.

After removing it I tested the water and the results were as follows:
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
Ph - 7.2
GH - 8°
KH - 15°

The water parameters have stayed, constantly, the same since starting this tank.

The only odd behavior that I noticed was that the fish didn't school with the other fish, and preferred to hide in the val. It also wouldn't come to the surface when I fed the tank, only occasionally grabbing at a sinking granule that was near the bottom 1/4th of the tank.
Six days ago, when I tried feeding the tetras and the Ancistrus at the same time. One of the Phantoms got hold of a rather large chunk of a sinking pellet and held on to it until it eventually ate the entire thing. I'm not sure if the fish that did that was the same fish that died. The dead fish didn't seem bloated.
Since then I have been dropping the sinking pellets into the tank, a good hour or two after the lights go out.

After removing the fish and testing my water I did a 50% water change. I decided better to do it now than wait for tomorrow (when I do my weekly maintenance). None of the other fish have been behaving abnormally or like the one that died. This leads me to believe that there was something wrong with the fish when I got it.

I also should add that this is a rather heavily planted tank. There is an air stone in the back corner behind the val to keep the tank oxygenated even during the night. I believe that this air stone might be overkill, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

I didn't quarantine the fish as I bought them all a week apart from the same vendor. I I do plan to add Corydoras in a month or so and them I will quarantine as they'll be purchased after these fish have been cleared for disease.

I'll add a picture of the dead fish so that maybe better trained eyes can spot something I missed.

Thanks,
Jordan
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I wouldn't worry. This fish may have had some internal injury from the netting, or a genetic problem, or been severely stressed by everything. This happens.

On the food issue, nothing to worry about there either. When fish take hold of large chunks, they are actually chewing off bits. You cannot stop fish from eating, and I have seen small fish take up large shrimp pellets hundreds of times. Provided you are not overfeeding the entire tank, this is not going to cause issues.

Byron.
 

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