Mysterious Stingray death

[FishyMel]

My stingray died almost instantly in one hour. Eating yesterday, dead today. Water parameters are fine, shark and corals excellent. I'm doing a water change tomorrow in case of water contamination from food or my hands or something. Any ideas? Very healthy for 3 monthes and a good eater no decline in health just instant death.

I put rhodactis mushrooms in a couple days ago I don't see how they'd hurt him though. It's really sad, I loved that little guy. I probably will get another soon; I just hope it is equally friendly.

That's the problem with fishkeeping, one day its working and you love it, next day it's dead.

 

[TheSaltwaterGuy]

What kind of ray was it?

 

[FishyMel]

Cortez. It literally died in a half hour. I went up to look at the tank and he was fine then go up a half an hour later and the thing is upside down not breathing. Possibly a stroke???

 

[TheSaltwaterGuy]

Never heard of this before...Possibly choked on a piece of food? Maybe someone like Ken(krj-1161) will visit this thread and help answer.

Sorry for your loss.

 

[lendz]

Sad news.. Im sorry for your loss bro..

1st the coral catshark then this.

 

[Lrgclasper]

what other fish do you have with it?

 

[Ranzan]

what has he been feeding on the last few days and how many feedings.

 

[FishyMel]

Mysis and krill every other day, hand fed so I could control his intake and reduce waste, fed about a 1-2 cm cube. He was only 6 inches long so what I fed seems reasonable, always a visible bulge in his belly after feeding time. He ate the night before his death.

Only inhabitants are a bamboo pup, ocellaris clown, open brain coral, rhodactis mushrooms(new in the past week), actinodiscus mushrooms, blue anthelia, maze brain, large zoa and paly assortment. I don't think it was the livestock, I'm thinking more and more it was a stroke, or a heart attack, something sudden. Everything in the tank looks really healthy.

 

[Ranzan]

that could be it right there a constant diet of mysis and krill is bad for fish you should try variety.One idea is bury pieces of shrimp soaked in vitimans ect. in the sand they will forage for it sorry for your loss

 

[FishyMel]

He also had silversides and clams too neither of which he accepted as readily. In the wild they really will be mostly eating shrimp, the issue is mainly when people feed their rays fish, something rays aren't as used to digesting. He still wouldn't die in a half hour period randomly if a diet issue. You'd see some sort of deterioration in health over time. He was fat, vibrant, and had clear eyes until death.

I also feed prosalt krill and pe mysis which enhance their shrimp with a variety of vitamins in minerals, I also added iodine to them, a necessary beneficial. What else should I of fed? I perfer not buying seafood from the butcher considering the stuff around here is loaded with perservatives:mad2: Something worse than feeding any sole good frozen fish food.

 

[FishyMel]

Here he is about a week ago, no visible signs of decline:

 

[lendz]

I had a similar experience with my motoro stingray. Everything was okay. He ate shrimps. Then one morning,he's dead.

 

[TheSaltwaterGuy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12141570#post12141570 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ranzan
that could be it right there a constant diet of mysis and krill is bad for fish you should try variety.One idea is bury pieces of shrimp soaked in vitimans ect. in the sand they will forage for it sorry for your loss

Thats what I do with my bamboo pup. She seems to enjoy searching for it and so does my eel. I'd recommend doing that to every elasmobranch keeper.

 

[Lrgclasper]

I am betting it was bacterial. Elasmobranchs are sensitive to these types of infections and when they happen, it happens very quick. Who knows where the poor guy picked the infection up.

 

[FishyMel]

Would a bacterial infection be my fault??



As far as burrying food, I don't know how you'd ever pull it off. My shark does and my ray did shot over to my hand literally one second after the food entered the water.

 

[Lrgclasper]

No, it would not necessarly be your fault. Sometimes it is really difficult to detect these problem. Public aquariums take blood tests to tell the health of animals. I also wonder if sometimes these animals come in with parasites that we cannot see.