Biggest Bass Died :( Why?

[HumphreyBear]

It is generally considered bad practice to feed fish still-frozen foods, though more because it may cause stomach upsets than kill them. Bloodworms are a good food for the Cichla, but it is worth defrosting in tank water.

Had the worms defrosted previously and been refrozen? Maybe they were 'off' and he got the fish equivalent of food poisoning. There are myriad possible reasons at this point.

'Bear

 

[shookONES]

I'm willing to bet oxygen deprivation is what killed it. 2 AC110s in a big tank running that hot is nowhere near enough.

 

[Bennlfer]

I have the biggest air pump I could find. It has 4 outlets and I have 4 bubble wands attached to it. I will start defrosting the cubes before I put them in

 

[Bennlfer]

Plus I keep the tank level low so the filters splash the water and create more air

 

[Bennlfer]

The fish weren't/aren't gasping either..

 

[mofofish]

Probably died of massive overdose of brain freeze from holding all those frozen cubes of bloodworms in its mouth (jk)

Sorry for your lost, I think it maybe was the "frozen" cubes, too many

 

[Bennlfer]

Yeah I'm thinking that when they melted they expanded and burst his stomach or something

 

[Bennlfer]

Thank you

 

[HumphreyBear]

(Most) fish are not homeothermic, so a large ingestion of frozen food (e.g. a greedy Cichla taking large mouthfuls) can conceivably reduce their body temperature and cause hypothermia. The symptoms of fish hypothermia are as follows:

a.The First evidence of hypothermia in fish is a loss in color followed by rapid breathing/gill movement. Additionally erratic swimming may occur. The effects of hypothermia can lead to hypoxia.
(From: http://www.aun.edu.eg/developmentvet/fish diseases/7_4.htm)

 

[Bennlfer]

Thanks for that information that strengthened my belief that it was the bloodworms. I have started to defrost them a bit before feeding but these bass are greedy and theyre still eating a lot of them.. Good news is that my new cichla are now eating and have an appetite so I will switch back to pellets soon.