how do you know when a fish is just at the end of it's life?

LMOUTHBASS

LMOUTHBASS

My hypocrisy goes only so far
Jun 17, 2003
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Mark
i've had a slowly occuring problem - i've lost 3 fish in the last 3 months to something but i'm not sure what -
here's whats happening - first victim female platy had several spawns - eventually got a dropsy look to her sort of rounded at the top of her body and didnt eat a few days later died -
last week same thing happened to another platy -
and then the other day my honey dwarf gourami same thing - just as soon as i see them not eat i know their a gonner -
the problem is i have no clue whats going on! they don't look to have dropsy no real pineconish scales or anything - and i don't thinkit's interanl parasites because i've given my tank medicated food a few times in the past as pre cautionary -
my thoughts are maybe the have reached the end of their lives and were old? or - my other thought is - these fish i lost were part of my original cycling process in a 20g tank back in june - they lived through a lot of my mistakes -
i just hope it's not some type of disease? i can't think of what it might be - shoul i be worrying
help thanks lmb


ps i just remembered a few mos ago i lost my favorite angel fish to similar symptoms although i had a younger angel fish nipping him for about 3 weeks when all of the sudden everything in the tank started nipping him n then he stopped eating and just died wtf???
 
I would say that a fishes life is affected by many things. living thru the cycling process stressed the fish and if the ammonia level was high then I guess the life span would be shortened. But I found thru Guppies that the condition of the fish when purchased has a Big effect on how long they survive. Also the type of fish some are more hardy than others. I have a jack dempsey that survived my mistakes and shes 61/2 inches growing every day. Take a good look at your lfs. Good Luck Tim
 
it's not like i'm having mass casualties just a few strange deaths over the last few months - all other fish are healthy - they now reside in my 55g which i set up about a month n half ago it is fully cycled - also i have treated the tank with meds as pre cautonary measure when i bought clown loaches and didnt q them first -
i think their life spans may have just been shortened from going through they cycle in my original tank back in june
thanks lmb
 
Sadly, I believe that fish just die sometimes. Some people would argue that if you give your fish a proper home that it will live to it's maximum age, and if it doesn't, then you have done something wrong. I think that's a load of crap. If you have fish dying all of the time, yeah, something is wrong. I'm guessing that most aquarium specimens don't live more than ten years. I'd say that a death or two a year isn't that uncommon, even if your fish are still relatively young.
 
yeah i'm not losing fish left n right i just had a few platies go after i had them for like 7 mos - one gave birth several times - and i lost a honey gourami - my water is ok n i take very good care of my tank - so my guess may be that these fish were affected a little when i was first setting a tank up in june and knew little or nothing about cycling thus perhaps shortening their lifespans or making their immune systems a little weaker leaving them exposed to things most fish can fight off with out problem - i mean they were healthy n stuff then outta no where they stop eating n just croak with 24 -72 hrs
 
Another thing, we can't know what effects our breeding of a particular fish has on the individual...

Neons are breed extensivly and I think comming from an aquarium or at least captivity makes them stronger in our tanks. However they are not as geneticly diverse as the fish in the wild per se so you might have problems that develop once they reach a cirtain point that causes them to die.

We well notice these indeviduals and try to have our fish live the longest possible but some are just more prone to illnesses that we may not have any control over. When a small fish gets cancer you can't very well do much nor ascertain that is what has happened.
 
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