out of the blue...

[kewlkatdady]

I don't understand. I have a fish die once a month...just out of the blue.

I came home lastnight (or this morning) and the biggest fish I have is dead...

Tested water...ammo 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 20ppm.

ph 8.0

Water is fine... Do I just chalk this up as a loss and not do anything?


I will say the fish had been acting wierd for a couple of weeks...not eating well and staying hiden...
But there were no signs at all of illness or stress.

[biggin]

Could it be a fish killing another fish?

That was what I had going on.... water was fine and I had not noticed anything overly wrong going on. I had a fish starting to look like he was getting sick, so I moved him to a QT he got better moved him back in the tank and the blue gourami killed him after about 10 mins back in the tank.... that blue killed 3-5 fish.

[poel_19]

possible internal parasites???

[kewlkatdady]

man I dont see another fish messing with this one. This fish was twice the size of any other fish in the tank.

i guess internal parasite is a possibility...but wouldn't there be some sign of illness?

[fishman76092]

I will say the fish had been acting wierd for a couple of weeks...not eating well and staying hiden...
But there were no signs at all of illness or stress.

Those are the signs of illness and stress. Im not sure what type of fish you have, but those are the telltale signs to 'bloat'.

Clout or Metronidiazole are two drugs of choice for this.

[kewlkatdady]

bloat is normally able to be noticed from swollen stomach.

I feed a very wide variety of foods in omega one, spiraline, frozen brine, and sea weed.

I guess bloat is an option...I just never noticed any signs...other than a reduced but not halted all together. Any other time I had a fish with bloat...It quit eating all together.

[biggin]

Those are the signs of illness and stress. Im not sure what type of fish you have, but those are the telltale signs to 'bloat'.

Clout or Metronidiazole are two drugs of choice for this.

Not sure about using Clout on the clown loaches. Might check that out.

[kewlkatdady]

I don't use meds...
never have...

[fishman76092]

Not necessarily. Your fish have internal issues. Take it from a person who was trained to be a professional fish medicator-your fish have what is know as 'Malawi Bloat'. Your fish dont have to bloat up like a balloon to have it. The vast majority of the time, they just waste away and die.

TRUST ME-get some metronidiazole and treat your tank. I know what Im talking about.

[kewlkatdady]

would epsom salt be worth a try...

as I said, I have never medicated a tank and really dont like the idea of it.

All the fish are nice and healthy now that the one died.

thoughts?

[kewlkatdady]

I just read a few articles on malawi bloat...
I agree that that is what killed the fish...

I do not have any other fish in the tank that look to be sick...should I treat the tank anyway?