Large Bala Found Dead :(

[gh74]

I noticed earlier that one of my large bala's was swimming on his own up and down the glass,i thought were is the sidekick at after looking for 10minutes i found him lying dead in the back of the tank,he had been fine this morning then died sudden i wonder what could off killed it?

 

[elmo666]

Very sad, sorry to hear that. If all other fish are acting normal, showing no signs of any stress, all you can do is test your water, check your temp and rule out anything obvious. Unfortunately, just as in our lives, premature deaths happen with fish too. Or it may have just had it's time. Because we nurture our fish, like any pet, we don't take their deaths well.

 

[clivealive]

what fish have u got with him , anything newish ?
sorry to hear of the loss not nice

 

[Ch4rlie]

Also may be good to hear what tank size you have had the bala in.
 
Temp and parameter of tank water may be useful as already mentioned to try and rule out anything.
 
Also tank mates would be good to know.
 
All these question may help in eliminating obvious causes and narrow the search for the cause.
 
Sorry to hear of this

 

[fluttermoth]

How big was the bala and how long have you had it? How many balas do you have?

As Ch4rlie says, we do need tank size and test results to eliminate other possibilities.

 

[gh74]

Rio 240 ive had it since the first week in april,suppose i bought it when it was an average size but was growing well.
 
ph 7.6
hr 7.4
ammonia 0.25
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
 
and my tank is cycled,my other tank is the same readings as this and has been since it was cycled aswell
 
tank mates are,2 wee oscars,2 keyholes,2rams,4 angels,4 clown loaches,congo tetras,1 bm,1 plec,1 pictus cat,1 bala,2 small albino sharks....all these fish get on really well with each other there is no aggression in the tank,as i have watched the tank for hours during the day and have watched it all during the night at times and no fighting,stressing what so ever.
 
Thanks graham

 

[CSnyder00]

Ammonia spike maybe?

 

[gh74]

Just not sure maybe it was his time to go just,he never showed any signs of illness

 

[Ch4rlie]

Rio 240 ive had it since the first week in april,suppose i bought it when it was an average size but was growing well.
 
ph 7.6
hr 7.4
ammonia 0.25
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
 
and my tank is cycled,my other tank is the same readings as this and has been since it was cycled aswell

 
How did you cycle your tank?
With zero nitrate readings, this make me suspect it may not actually be cycled unless your tank is very heavily planted or the test result is false or done wrong. 
 
A true cycled tank will always have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and a reading of 5 - 40 ppm nitrate is the usual readings we expect.
 
Here is the Fishless Cycle article we normally follow and recommend, have a read of this as it contains good information and gives you a basic understanding how a cycled tank works and why.
 
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/421488-cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first/
 
 

Rio 240 ive had it since the first week in april,suppose i bought it when it was an average size but was growing well.
 
tank mates are,2 wee oscars,2 keyholes,2rams,4 angels,4 clown loaches,congo tetras,1 bm,1 plec,1 pictus cat,1 bala,2 small albino sharks.

 
A 240 litre tank for bala shark and all these fish you've mentioned as tank mates, is far too small am afraid.
 
Bala Shark require a minimum of 225 US gals or 860 litre tank, as these need a big amount of space to swim in and also do better in groups of 6+. These can get more aggressive to tank mates when get bigger and older.
 
http/www.seriouslyfish.com/species/balantiocheilos-melanopterus/
 
 
Oscar do require large tanks as well am afraid, 140 US gal or 540 litre for a single or a pair of adult provided has ample space inside the tank, again thats minimum sized which is just about doable. 
 
http/www.seriouslyfish.com/species/astronotus-ocellatus/
 
 
Clown Loaches require a 6 foot tank, at least, 170 US gals or 640 litres, these are extremely active fish and grow to a foot long fairly easily but does take a while to reach this size. Again these do best in groups of 6+.
 
http/www.seriouslyfish.com/species/chromobotia-macracanthus/
 
 
Thats just for starters so the BN, Pleco, albino sharks and pictus cat all crammed in with the oscars and balas and loaches makes for a very overstocked tank, sorry to say really
 
So I would put the death of the bala down to uncycled tank possibly combined with stress in an overcrowded tank.
 
So you will need to either upgrade to a large tank or re-home some of your stocking as soon as you can really before more issues start to arise.
 
In fact I would say probably best to re-home them all and then do a Fishless Cycle as per the article I linked earlier and then you can research what would be more suitable for your tank size and set up.
 
Sorry these are probably not what you wanted to hear, but we all have to learn somehow about this fish keeping hobby, always better to know sooner rather than later when you have major issues

 

[gh74]

Cheers charlie for all the info there,doubt its a bigger tank then 6-8 foot its got to be.

 

[tunagirll]

Balas are spooky, may well have simply shot across the tank and hit the glass hard enough to kill itself.

 

[gh74]

yeah possibly as they were always doing that and the other one is doing still.

 

[KevJ87]

 

Rio 240 ive had it since the first week in april,suppose i bought it when it was an average size but was growing well.
 
ph 7.6
hr 7.4
ammonia 0.25
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
 
and my tank is cycled,my other tank is the same readings as this and has been since it was cycled aswell

 
How did you cycle your tank?
With zero nitrate readings, this make me suspect it may not actually be cycled unless your tank is very heavily planted or the test result is false or done wrong. 
 
A true cycled tank will always have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and a reading of 5 - 40 ppm nitrate is the usual readings we expect.
 
Here is the Fishless Cycle article we normally follow and recommend, have a read of this as it contains good information and gives you a basic understanding how a cycled tank works and why.
 
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/421488-cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first/
 
 

Rio 240 ive had it since the first week in april,suppose i bought it when it was an average size but was growing well.
 
tank mates are,2 wee oscars,2 keyholes,2rams,4 angels,4 clown loaches,congo tetras,1 bm,1 plec,1 pictus cat,1 bala,2 small albino sharks.

 
A 240 litre tank for bala shark and all these fish you've mentioned as tank mates, is far too small am afraid.
 
Bala Shark require a minimum of 225 US gals or 860 litre tank, as these need a big amount of space to swim in and also do better in groups of 6+. These can get more aggressive to tank mates when get bigger and older.
 
http/www.seriouslyfish.com/species/balantiocheilos-melanopterus/
 
 
Oscar do require large tanks as well am afraid, 140 US gal or 540 litre for a single or a pair of adult provided has ample space inside the tank, again thats minimum sized which is just about doable. 
 
http/www.seriouslyfish.com/species/astronotus-ocellatus/
 
 
Clown Loaches require a 6 foot tank, at least, 170 US gals or 640 litres, these are extremely active fish and grow to a foot long fairly easily but does take a while to reach this size. Again these do best in groups of 6+.
 
http/www.seriouslyfish.com/species/chromobotia-macracanthus/
 
 
Thats just for starters so the BN, Pleco, albino sharks and pictus cat all crammed in with the oscars and balas and loaches makes for a very overstocked tank, sorry to say really

 
So I would put the death of the bala down to uncycled tank possibly combined with stress in an overcrowded tank.
 
So you will need to either upgrade to a large tank or re-home some of your stocking as soon as you can really before more issues start to arise.
 
In fact I would say probably best to re-home them all and then do a Fishless Cycle as per the article I linked earlier and then you can research what would be more suitable for your tank size and set up.
 
Sorry these are probably not what you wanted to hear, but we all have to learn somehow about this fish keeping hobby, always better to know sooner rather than later when you have major issues

 

 
I usually love your advice and you are more often than not very correct however with the Bala situation you are tad off. The only reason I know is since I was having the custom tank built in my office room I studied the bala situation for well over a month contacting a few aquariums that house specialized fresh water species.
 
The bala shark does well in packs of 4 or more only when in the FRY stage of their development, when nearing adulthood they actually prefer to be only companions (2 or 3 at most).
 
A bala shark in its fry stage is actually better off houses in a smaller tank under 100 gallons but with a circle structure, the circular structure encourages long distance swimming around and around, many say that a larger thank for bala in their fry stage puts stress on them to try and claim terriortiy over the entire tank.
 
A bala shark will due fine even in adulthood in a 85 gallon custom (shallow long) tank with an oval shape. The flat walls really dont help with balas and one of the main reasons people are discouraged to keep them as a hobby pet since most tanks will always have the typical flat walls.
 
If you are keeping a bala shark near adulthood alone with no other companion it is best to include a submissive type of species that (schools) the bala shark will actually adapt and mimic the behavior of the other schooling fish.
 
One of the most renown bala scientists works for Florida Freshwater Eco Systems and did a 13 year long study with them as they possess a gene trait not found in similar fish species and is actually believed to give the bala a higher intellect and sense of awareness compared to similar marine life. Most of the information I have provided came directly from him in an e-mail conversation back and forth and a paper he wrote in 2011 called "The freshwater shark -> Truth and misinformation" 
 
Just wanted to let a few Bala keepers know about him and his papers and how there is ton's of mis information out there about Balas.

 

[the_lock_man]

Interesting.
 
I normally swear by Seriously Fish, and they say nothing about this (ie the link that Ch4rlie posted).
 
Can you post a link to the paper, and any peer review? And what is this scientist's name?

 

[Ch4rlie]

One of the most renown bala scientists works for Florida Freshwater Eco Systems and did a 13 year long study with them as they possess a gene trait not found in similar fish species and is actually believed to give the bala a higher intellect and sense of awareness compared to similar marine life. Most of the information I have provided came directly from him in an e-mail conversation back and forth and a paper he wrote in 2011 called "The freshwater shark -> Truth and misinformation" 
 
 
 
Just wanted to let a few Bala keepers know about him and his papers and how there is ton's of mis information out there about Balas.
 

 
Truly interesting reading and find it fascinating about this new information about balas.
 
Is there any way you could possibly link the paper or study this renowned bala scientist of Florida Freshwater ECO Systems did for 13 years, would be interesting reading.
 
As T_L_M mentions, I do too go with what Seriously Fish suggestions and advice as these tend to be fairly accurate as far as I know. There are a couple of other site I tend to go by as well and their information is similar really, nothing has really been said about fry and tank shapes. 
 
This would be good information to have if we are indeed a bit off about Bala sharks and would be good to have reliable advice, once proven.