I find the "Not Knowing" is the toughest part because, was it just some random event? Was it natural? Was it something I did? Will it happen again? It's far and away the most frustrating part of the hobby.
Great video! I recently had a mass die-off and I'm not entirely sure what happened, maybe you or someone in the comments has seen it before. I'll try and keep this short; One of my aquariums was overstocked for sure, and I had recently added a school of 12 serpae tetras to it. I knew it was going to need a water change and I was going to do so the following day (my day off). To hold it over I added half a dose of Seachem prime because that was all I had left, so I then added a dose of API Stress Coat. About 20 minutes later my ENTIRE house smelled like sulfur (my fishroom is in my basement). I went downstairs to investigate and found that aquarium to me slightly cloudy, and all of my serpae tetras were either dead or dying. My american cichlids were all dull and cloudy looking as well, clearly stressed. My adolescent green terror and Geo. brasilienses were extra pale and even their eyes were grayed over, like a cataract. The smell of sulfur was so strong it was unbearable. In the end I lost 75% of the tank, the only survivors being my green terror, firemouth, convict, and 3 corydoras. Even today (3 weeks later) my green terror spends all his time hiding and does not eat nearly as much or as ravenously as he used to. I'm not sure what kind of chemical reaction happened by adding Prime and Stress Coat to my water that probably did not have great parameters. Regardless it was a learning experience, which I hope to never experience again in this hobby that I've fallen in love with. I thank anyone who took the time to read all this!
Hey ben, I'm having that exact problem right now one of my large ob chiclids is not able to get upright whatever he's still eating a little bit but he cannot seem to get himself oriented. Not sure if he's been bullied or it's maybe one of the things you have discussed here on this video. I have put him in one of my tanks thats unoccupied but it doesn't look good. I really hate when this happens. Seems funny how you're topics are always right on point to what's happening at exact moment with me. Well take care thanks for all you do and see you on you're next sat. podcast. P.s. congratulations on you're sons wedding. I wish him and his new wife good health and many years of happiness. Later brother.
Thank you for the good wishes😀 It does sound sound like he might have taken a hard hit to the swim bladder. Sadly I’ve never seen a fish come back from that.
Hey Ben! You ever thought about a meet and greet at the critter!!🎉 I'm a nashvillan would love to see you in person it's crazy you moved to my neck of the woods. My mother used to take me to Nolensville to the critter for a outing and we would then go to the big flea market here. I want to join the aquarium society it's my favorite hobby but I live in places where I can not keep my beautiful fish 😢. I lived with my dad for a minute and he put me in charge of the two ten gallon tanks his fifty five and gave me my own twenty tall and two 5 gallon I started the 20 and watching the videos on TH-cam I bred guppies raised frogs platies and their children along with a big angel. Then Dad's tank had a problem I medicated with your method because I had the disease that hit u hard I saved one angel out of three beautiful fish 😢 one lil Columbia tetra and a cherry barb culmaniras probably spelled wrong killed the whole system. I bombarded The system like you taught me to do the angel is 3 years young later and my lil dojo loaches love it. I have 2 blue acara and a spotted cat fish plus a few cories but I lost so many beautiful babies to the I don't know disease..... My dream is a fully planted fish room....with the beautiful African beasts you have on your channel but not only that I'm into rope fish eels loaches American fish south American fish my love for these creatures is never ending and I hope one day to have a lil room or garage to fulfill my dream no profit required. You sir and my all time favorite hobbiest are helpful with my goal every day thank you Ben God bless you and your beautiful family lil cutie pie of a granddaughter and the beautiful animals you care for❤
several years ago, I lost 9 peacocks, real beautifies Water fine, temp fine and eating. Over 9 days they started huddling in 1 corner of 100 gal. tank, not gasping for air. Started dying off a couple a day then gone. Broke my heart. All the things you mentioned were done, and it blew my mind. They were all about 5-7 inches, had to be age.
Just the stress alone of constantly being chased is enough to cause a fish to go down. Just the nature of these all male tanks. Why I eventually took mine down.
I'm dealing with this very issue as I listen to this video. Well... not AS the video is actually playing, but as recently as this past Friday night / Saturday morning. I did a normal water change Friday night. Nobody looked stressed. Nobody was gasping at the surface. It was business as usual. I came down to stream late Saturday morning, and I found that my young red shoulder severum was floating, as was my oldest silver dollar. I didn't bother to test the water. I'm sure it was high in ammonia because they'd been in there for 8 to 10 hours. Plus, my water isn't perzactly pristine coming out of the tap as it is. So, what was it that got them? I have no idea. Was it bad or vastly different water parameters? Maybe. Was it aggression? That could be it, too. My oscar does have some war wounds on it, too. They look more like the wounds he'd have received had he run into something with speed, but at the very least, that means something spooked him or was chasing him.
oh my goodness I’ve never had a large fish die yet; it’s going to freak me out one day! 24/7 trail cams for the extra curious? It’s crazy to think that you might have a violent fish that is smart enough to act normal when you’re around🤔
I'd like to add another factor...poor genetics. 18 months ago I bought a male and female Red Devil Angelfish. They ate and grew well. The male became impressive in size and neither ever showed any sign of illness. In August I went on a 2 week vacation and on my return found the male dead floating on the surface. I immediately removed him and tested the water. No issues and all other occupants in the mixed community were fine. Over the next month I noticed the female starting to lose weight, though still feeding. Dewormed the tank and had to go away for 10 days in September. Again returned and found her dead, removed and water tested, all fine. No sign of stress or disease in any of the other occupants. Auto feeders were set up in my absence, and water changes done the day before leaving. Perplexed I mentioned this to the LFS from which they came. When asked they admitted that exotic strains of normally hardy fish are cross bred multiple times, to get the colour morph desired, and therefore lose that hardiness which could explain the sudden deaths. Since, it has given me pause for thought, whenever I see such fish in aquatic stores, especially as they tend to be at the more expensive end of the spectrum.
Those don't belong together, so your suspicion is probably true. Sorry friend, but we have all been guilty of keeping incompatible fish together. It's part of experimenting with and learning the hobby. I've recently had to do some rearranging myself because I was doing no no's as well.
After 62 years of fish keeping and having kept most genera of aquarium fish, I can only say I have seen this with African Cichlids. Unfortunately this is part of, and typical of keeping Africans in a glass box. All the causes for death you mention are valid but you would see the other fish at least being partially impacted.
I always leave a small light on near my tanks. Keeps them a bit calmer instead of keeping them in total darkness. Whole tank of dead fish is definitely a big problem, one random dead fish is just part of the hobby. I try not to think about what the cause was. Anytime I have had a normal healthy fish randomly die with no visible trauma, I assume it ran into the glass. Really a guessing game.
Ben, I have had this happen to me over a few species of fish and I never noticed why they died and when I test the water everything is fine. The ones I refuse to keep mostly because I can’t keep them alive is Bolivian and German rams, Dwarf Gouramis, neon tetras, angel fish, giant danios, peacock grungeons, had two of them and can’t keep them alive. Snails I can’t keep alive. Otto’s I can’t keep alive even though I buy a school and feed them. Red eye tetras I had 8 and my last one just died not even a year. Buenos Aires tetras keep dieing but I think that maybe themselves taking out each other. Some rainbow fish just seem to die. I am like what happened to you uggh. I had three die on me and they were pretty. This is my list I don’t know if you agree of have kept any of these fish.
Ive lost 14 peacocks in 14 months. One a month died. Evorytime a fish 🐠 died. I tested the water. Parameters were fine. I believe. It was either aggression or a parasite. The not knowing part is a part of the hobby tht is frustrating. Besides the financial hit 💰🥲
![20 Fish *YOU'LL NEVER BUY AGAIN!* & [20 FISH YOU ABSOLUTELY WILL!]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/GI2J4jBLaiQ/mqdefault.jpg)
![20 Fish *YOU'LL NEVER BUY AGAIN!* & [20 FISH YOU ABSOLUTELY WILL!]](/img/tr.png)
![ILLSLICK - KILLSHOT REMIX [FULL VERSION]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/RIK8RrqIAzE/mqdefault.jpg)
I find the "Not Knowing" is the toughest part because, was it just some random event? Was it natural? Was it something I did? Will it happen again? It's far and away the most frustrating part of the hobby.
Very informational Ben!Really appreciate this video‼️💯
So well presented Ben - thank you!
Love all your videos full of. Great info keep up the good work 👍👍👏👏
Great video! I recently had a mass die-off and I'm not entirely sure what happened, maybe you or someone in the comments has seen it before. I'll try and keep this short;
One of my aquariums was overstocked for sure, and I had recently added a school of 12 serpae tetras to it. I knew it was going to need a water change and I was going to do so the following day (my day off). To hold it over I added half a dose of Seachem prime because that was all I had left, so I then added a dose of API Stress Coat. About 20 minutes later my ENTIRE house smelled like sulfur (my fishroom is in my basement). I went downstairs to investigate and found that aquarium to me slightly cloudy, and all of my serpae tetras were either dead or dying. My american cichlids were all dull and cloudy looking as well, clearly stressed. My adolescent green terror and Geo. brasilienses were extra pale and even their eyes were grayed over, like a cataract. The smell of sulfur was so strong it was unbearable.
In the end I lost 75% of the tank, the only survivors being my green terror, firemouth, convict, and 3 corydoras. Even today (3 weeks later) my green terror spends all his time hiding and does not eat nearly as much or as ravenously as he used to. I'm not sure what kind of chemical reaction happened by adding Prime and Stress Coat to my water that probably did not have great parameters. Regardless it was a learning experience, which I hope to never experience again in this hobby that I've fallen in love with. I thank anyone who took the time to read all this!
Hey ben, I'm having that exact problem right now one of my large ob chiclids is not able to get upright whatever he's still eating a little bit but he cannot seem to get himself oriented. Not sure if he's been bullied or it's maybe one of the things you have discussed here on this video. I have put him in one of my tanks thats unoccupied but it doesn't look good. I really hate when this happens. Seems funny how you're topics are always right on point to what's happening at exact moment with me. Well take care thanks for all you do and see you on you're next sat. podcast. P.s. congratulations on you're sons wedding. I wish him and his new wife good health and many years of happiness. Later brother.
Thank you for the good wishes😀
It does sound sound like he might have taken a hard hit to the swim bladder. Sadly I’ve never seen a fish come back from that.
its sad sometimes that in the mornings when we check on our tanks .....you hate to check on some of tanks and hope there's nothing dead or shredded
that is so true. I actually have a phobia every morning, even though I don’t have any issues currently, of just looking in the tank, you know.
Hey Ben! You ever thought about a meet and greet at the critter!!🎉 I'm a nashvillan would love to see you in person it's crazy you moved to my neck of the woods. My mother used to take me to Nolensville to the critter for a outing and we would then go to the big flea market here. I want to join the aquarium society it's my favorite hobby but I live in places where I can not keep my beautiful fish 😢. I lived with my dad for a minute and he put me in charge of the two ten gallon tanks his fifty five and gave me my own twenty tall and two 5 gallon I started the 20 and watching the videos on TH-cam I bred guppies raised frogs platies and their children along with a big angel. Then Dad's tank had a problem I medicated with your method because I had the disease that hit u hard I saved one angel out of three beautiful fish 😢 one lil Columbia tetra and a cherry barb culmaniras probably spelled wrong killed the whole system. I bombarded The system like you taught me to do the angel is 3 years young later and my lil dojo loaches love it. I have 2 blue acara and a spotted cat fish plus a few cories but I lost so many beautiful babies to the I don't know disease..... My dream is a fully planted fish room....with the beautiful African beasts you have on your channel but not only that I'm into rope fish eels loaches American fish south American fish my love for these creatures is never ending and I hope one day to have a lil room or garage to fulfill my dream no profit required. You sir and my all time favorite hobbiest are helpful with my goal every day thank you Ben God bless you and your beautiful family lil cutie pie of a granddaughter and the beautiful animals you care for❤
Amazing. Thank you so much for this comment!
several years ago, I lost 9 peacocks, real beautifies Water fine, temp fine and eating. Over 9 days they started huddling in 1 corner
of 100 gal. tank, not gasping for air. Started dying off a couple a day then gone. Broke my heart. All the things you mentioned were
done, and it blew my mind. They were all about 5-7 inches, had to be age.
I mustve had literally 100 unexplained deaths over the past 12-13 yrs
I experienced this on occasions when I kept African Cichlids. Some showed signs of experiencing aggression but sometimes, nothing at all.
Just the stress alone of constantly being chased is enough to cause a fish to go down. Just the nature of these all male tanks. Why I eventually took mine down.
That is always the baffling issues , what happened when all seemed perfect
I have found that a tank being in a total blackout at night isn’t good I think they get startled sometimes and hit the glass really hard
I'm dealing with this very issue as I listen to this video. Well... not AS the video is actually playing, but as recently as this past Friday night / Saturday morning.
I did a normal water change Friday night. Nobody looked stressed. Nobody was gasping at the surface. It was business as usual. I came down to stream late Saturday morning, and I found that my young red shoulder severum was floating, as was my oldest silver dollar. I didn't bother to test the water. I'm sure it was high in ammonia because they'd been in there for 8 to 10 hours. Plus, my water isn't perzactly pristine coming out of the tap as it is. So, what was it that got them? I have no idea. Was it bad or vastly different water parameters? Maybe. Was it aggression? That could be it, too. My oscar does have some war wounds on it, too. They look more like the wounds he'd have received had he run into something with speed, but at the very least, that means something spooked him or was chasing him.
oh my goodness I’ve never had a large fish die yet; it’s going to freak me out one day! 24/7 trail cams for the extra curious?
It’s crazy to think that you might have a violent fish that is smart enough to act normal when you’re around🤔
I'd like to add another factor...poor genetics. 18 months ago I bought a male and female Red Devil Angelfish. They ate and grew well. The male became impressive in size and neither ever showed any sign of illness. In August I went on a 2 week vacation and on my return found the male dead floating on the surface. I immediately removed him and tested the water. No issues and all other occupants in the mixed community were fine. Over the next month I noticed the female starting to lose weight, though still feeding. Dewormed the tank and had to go away for 10 days in September. Again returned and found her dead, removed and water tested, all fine. No sign of stress or disease in any of the other occupants. Auto feeders were set up in my absence, and water changes done the day before leaving. Perplexed I mentioned this to the LFS from which they came. When asked they admitted that exotic strains of normally hardy fish are cross bred multiple times, to get the colour morph desired, and therefore lose that hardiness which could explain the sudden deaths. Since, it has given me pause for thought, whenever I see such fish in aquatic stores, especially as they tend to be at the more expensive end of the spectrum.
I’ve experienced that. Other fish hardy and doing well and one or two suddenly waste way. Very frustrating.
I'm suspecting my angelfish for taking out my goldfish.
Those don't belong together, so your suspicion is probably true. Sorry friend, but we have all been guilty of keeping incompatible fish together. It's part of experimenting with and learning the hobby. I've recently had to do some rearranging myself because I was doing no no's as well.
@@bsautospa2957 Thanks! You're right and I've learnt my lesson.
After 62 years of fish keeping and having kept most genera of aquarium fish, I can only say I have seen this with African Cichlids. Unfortunately this is part of, and typical of keeping Africans in a glass box. All the causes for death you mention are valid but you would see the other fish at least being partially impacted.
I always leave a small light on near my tanks. Keeps them a bit calmer instead of keeping them in total darkness. Whole tank of dead fish is definitely a big problem, one random dead fish is just part of the hobby. I try not to think about what the cause was. Anytime I have had a normal healthy fish randomly die with no visible trauma, I assume it ran into the glass. Really a guessing game.
That’s a good attitude.
Ben,
I have had this happen to me over a few species of fish and I never noticed why they died and when I test the water everything is fine. The ones I refuse to keep mostly because I can’t keep them alive is Bolivian and German rams, Dwarf Gouramis, neon tetras, angel fish, giant danios, peacock grungeons, had two of them and can’t keep them alive. Snails I can’t keep alive. Otto’s I can’t keep alive even though I buy a school and feed them. Red eye tetras I had 8 and my last one just died not even a year. Buenos Aires tetras keep dieing but I think that maybe themselves taking out each other. Some rainbow fish just seem to die. I am like what happened to you uggh. I had three die on me and they were pretty. This is my list I don’t know if you agree of have kept any of these fish.
I’ve had a similar experience with Rams. Have never been able to keep them alive for long.
Once again your aggressive fish are beyond your control. And I doubt this will ever end. No aggressive fish in my tanks.
Ive lost 14 peacocks in 14 months. One a month died. Evorytime a fish 🐠 died. I tested the water. Parameters were fine. I believe. It was either aggression or a parasite. The not knowing part is a part of the hobby tht is frustrating. Besides the financial hit 💰🥲