Old Age?

[Gini]

I have had a bunch of rasboras and one lonely black neon tetra for almost 8 years now. All of a sudden, I have had a mass exodus of fish in the last probably 3 months or so. The tetra isn't looking good right now and i am down to one last rasbora. I have been kind of expecting them to die of old age sooner or later, because I think 8 years is a pretty good life span for this type of fish, but I was thinking about it today, and got to wondering, how do you know if fish are dying of old age or if they are dying because of something else?

 

[fishboytoo]

That's a tricky question. It seems highly doubtful that the fish have an "expiry date" and just perish when they hit that pre-set birthday. It is definite that there is some underlying physiological cause for each death. This may be directly related to age, such as the older the fish gets the poorer it's immune system functions. If that fish then gets an infection and dies, was that old age or the infectious agent that killed it? A little of both, depending on how you look at it. My point is that even if old age is the explanation, the actual "cause of death" is often something else. Much the way HIV itself doesn't kill people but rather some other pathogen they get causes the actual death.

To get more to the point of your question... if you eliminate the other obvious causes of death such as environmental conditions(temp, water quality), disease, or obvious physical injury then it's likely they succumbed of natural causes ie. systemic organ failure due to advanced age. Eight years seems pretty old for tetras/rasboras. I commend you for giving them a long and healthy life.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

8 years is really good for tetra's/rasboras.

i think it would actually make sense for several to die at once, bear in mind they probably came from the same breeder and were maybe even from the same parents, they'll be a similar age, they will have gone through the same problems, if a disease hits the tank or a period of bad water quality, they will have all goen through it and in many ways lead almost identical lives, therefore it would follow that they could all die at around the same time.

i had this with a school of rasbora's that aged 5 half the group died within a month or so, no other fish showed any signs of disease and water quality was perfect.

 

[Gini]

Thanks for the answers. I guess I just wanted to be sure that before I restock my tank, that they are just dying because they are old. I have always been surprised that they have lived as long as they have, because I tend to be pretty lazy about caring for my tank, but the rasboras have always thrived in my tank. The pointing out did they die from old age or an infection is an interesting one... I am a hospice nurse, and when an 85 year old dies of cancer, are they dying from cancer, or old age??? Well, the disease process/dying process is different, so then I was thinking that if they were dying from something else, would they look differently than fishes dying strictly from old age. Maybe I just think too much.

Anyways, I gues since my other fish (not that I have too many of them) are doing ok, I will just assume this is old age and restock my tank, once I figure out what I wanna put in there. Maybe more rasboras, since they seem to like me so much

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Thanks for the answers. I guess I just wanted to be sure that before I restock my tank, that they are just dying because they are old. I have always been surprised that they have lived as long as they have, because I tend to be pretty lazy about caring for my tank, but the rasboras have always thrived in my tank. The pointing out did they die from old age or an infection is an interesting one... I am a hospice nurse, and when an 85 year old dies of cancer, are they dying from cancer, or old age??? Well, the disease process/dying process is different, so then I was thinking that if they were dying from something else, would they look differently than fishes dying strictly from old age. Maybe I just think too much.

Anyways, I gues since my other fish (not that I have too many of them) are doing ok, I will just assume this is old age and restock my tank, once I figure out what I wanna put in there. Maybe more rasboras, since they seem to like me so much

yeah it's an interesting question isn't it.

you'll find with fish just as with humans that as they reach the end of they're life they will be weaker and more susceptible to disease and they will also be less able to fight them off.

I'd give it a month or so then you can make sure you've not got any problems, then go ahead with some more fish