D'oh =(

[wuvmybetta]

No sign of disease. I was utterly shocked when I glanced over at the tank and found a very,very eaten fish floating at the top . My first thoughts were "omg,they killed one of the female s.fryeri...and then the loaches got her" but upon further investigation, I found that it was one of my queen botias

This tank is very well fed because I have young cichlids in it,but not overly fed, I often wonder if the loaches are even getting enough. Spacious (120g) with much territory for all the loaches, they usually stick together but I've noticed they've split into two seperate groups..clowns and queens mixed. This is the first death since I set it up.

Two nights ago they had some spirulina brine, enough for everybody and I noticed one of the queens was so,so full and round that I took a picture of it. I also thought it could possibly have eggs. Now my questions...

Do you think a fish can literally eat itself to death?

Do you think they're aggressive enough to kill each other? (they are quite aggro)

Do you think, possibly, if it was carrying eggs, they'd (the other loaches/botias) eat them out of her?

Everything tests fine and everybody looks great I'm puzzled.

 

[living_dead]

I think maybe eat itself to death... how old was he/she? I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[wuvmybetta]

Couldn't tell ya how old they are, I've had them for a little over 6 months. They appear to be full grown, more than likely wild caught.

 

[suemack]

I'm sorry about your queen botia - it's always sad when you lose a fish but ......I know my loaches are all very special.....a bit magical in the way they act and play.

One possibility is that being wild-caught she was carrying intestinal worms....which multiplied to the point they killed her - and that was the reason for her full rounded appearance

Have noticed with my dominant clown loach he takes the food off to the corner and guards it like a pup......your queen may have done this and overeaten and given her an upset stomach....fish do seem to get them.......some of the loaches are absolute gluttons. I have to watch when I feed frozen bloodworms that I thaw them properly or the cold food seems to upset their stomachs.

Some of the play is very rough/aggressive between loaches like the queens....one possibility is that she was carrying eggs and got butted in the belly which caused damage.

I'll have another look in my loach info and see if I can come up with any other ideas........the intestinal worms is one of the more likely scenarios

sue

 

[wuvmybetta]

Thanks Sue

A glutton is the perfect way to describe them,when I feed the tank they act as though they can't remember the last time they ate The thought of internal parasites is disturbing though...everybody else looks fantastic but,ya never know. I have several hundreds of dollars worth of fish in that tank, so if treating it for parasites is the best way to go....I'll do it But I'd rather that be the last resort.I'm hoping it's something more obvious than an illness of some sort.

 

[suemack]

I haven't treated my loaches for worms and wouldn't unless I saw some symptoms that showed they did have them

........just like people some fish are more susceptible to things like disease, water conditions, worms etc. We will always get the odd fish that dies and we don't know why......we can only guess........and I personally believe that often these fish are the genetically weaker ones.

The best we can do is to look after them as we do with good management, water changes, feeding and not overcrowding ......and enjoy the magic they bring to our lives.

When I got 'the dude' I got 2 of them - had them in the tank for about 4 months and they were delightful little characters....stroppy together but cool....then one died I never did work out why.

sue

 

[wuvmybetta]

Hmmm, I guess losing one fish isn't the end of the world , but I would like to know what happened.

I won't treat, I'm not the biggest fan of meds. The botia was never bloated before,as a matter of fact they're a very slender fish.
I did a water change a couple of nights ago and they were all zooming around and then I fed the brine. I noticed two or three of the queenies going absolutely bonkers and being greedy, later I noticed how fat the one was But it wasn't acting ill, it was playing around enough that I could grab a pic or two