[frogger17]

Today one of my two Peacock Gudgeon died, and I don’t know why. I don’t have any experience with PG.

My tank parameters:

Established 10 gal (~9 gal of water) medium-planted tank with gravel over an ADA Aqua Soil base
7.6 pH, 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, 10-20 ppm Nitrate, ~2.5 gal of Prime treated tap water change last Saturday on normal 3-day schedule
CO2 injection at about 2 bubbles per 3 seconds, dosing <1ml APT Complete and <1ml Excel, both daily
Other fish in the tank: 1 Praecox Rainbow, 4 Sparkling Gourami, 1 Neon Swordtail, and 5 Amano shrimp

Observed symptoms:

I’ve had the PG since two Sundays ago, and nothing seemed out of sorts the whole time. Last two nights, observed one of the PG (think this is the one that died) had large belly during feeding (flake). Since the PG had only since this past weekend started to come to the surface to feed, I thought it may be it ate a lot or it was ready to spawn. This morning, the PG was hanging out in the water lettuce but I didn’t think anything of it. This evening after work, I found it dead.

Other factors:

My recollection is that not only was the belly large, it seemed to be bright red in color. Also, the female hybrid Praecox that was in the same tank died about a week ago. I hadn’t observed anything wrong with that fish, but to be honest, I didn’t really pay much attention to it. Since I had no idea what it was mixed with and Praecox having a reputation for not being very hardy, I didn’t spend too much thought on why it died. Btw, I had the Praecox for several months, so it was not a new addition.

Attached are a couple of pictures, but the belly isn’t as large or red as I remember it last night. There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with any of the other fish. They all seem to be behaving normally.

My long-shot question is can anyone offer insight into what might have killed this fish? The more urgent question is is there any preventative measure I should take to insure the health of the rest of my tank?

Apologies if the second picture is rotated.

 

[Wasserpest]

Very sorry about your loss...

I wouldn't exclude the possibility that it over-ate, or poisoned itself. These fishies may be better off with something other than flakes.
This is a bit besides the point, but... I use frozen food most of the time (mosquito larvae, cyclops, daphnia, stuff that they tend to eat in nature), and can't remember when I bought fish the last time.
I would be careful with flakes and such, especially avoiding to overfeed. Many fish don't have a built-in mechanism that tells them their tummy is bursting. I guess they don't get to overindulge in nature that much.

 

[Bandit1200]

Very sorry about your loss...

I wouldn't exclude the possibility that it over-ate... Many fish don't have a built-in mechanism that tells them their tummy is bursting. I guess they don't get to overindulge in nature that much.

I had a lionfish in one of my earlier saltwater tanks eat himself to death. I had a batch of black mollies in there with him and he picked off every baby molly in the tank and I found him upside down and all ballooned out on the bottom of the tank when I came home from work. I thought he would eat the mollies as he got hungry, but that is not what he did...better get another bucket!

 

[frogger17]

Thank you for your replies.

You're both probably right that I'm overfeeding.

I don't know if the surviving PG is the one that had the larger stomach I remembered from before, but it currently developed a large stomach over the past two days. Based on some additional research, it seems to be constipated. It's been eating well and seems fine otherwise.

I stopped feeding today, and when feeding resumes in a couple of days, all the fish will get frozen peas. If the PG doesn't empty it's stomach by Friday or if it seems to be struggling in other ways, an Epsom salt bath will be next.

This is a first for me. In all the years I kept fish in the past, I've never had to deal with constipation. :|

 

[Bandit1200]

I wasn't necessarily saying overfeeding led to the death of your fish, just saying that it is possible that it could literally eat itself to death as they aren't the smartest of creatures. I can't say I blame them though, I think I've come close a few times at the Indian buffet here. I can't wait for them to reopen, I haven't had a good (any) buffet since like February...

 

[frogger17]

I wasn't necessarily saying overfeeding led to the death of your fish, just saying that it is possible that it could literally eat itself to death as they aren't the smartest of creatures. I can't say I blame them though, I think I've come close a few times at the Indian buffet here. I can't wait for them to reopen, I haven't had a good (any) buffet since like February...

I didn't take it that way. :smile2: I was just acknowledging that care needs to be taken not to overfeed, given constipation can be a problem.

And my daughter agrees wholeheartedly about the buffets. :wink2:

Thanks again for the feedback.