#1 Cause of Death of Rays: Stupidity of Owner!

[JL]

Massivore and carnivore are expensive but sinking cichlid gold is cheap and is what I use as a staple w/ a mix of the others. Pellets are much safer all around. I am not a believer in a varied diet like most seeing as everything fed in a varied diet can be found in pellets w/ no ill effects.

 

[jlnguyen74]

I've been lazy on the WC lately especially since it's been raining and the drums are not being used up because the maids don't empty the drums on the garden if it's raining. I'd say my last WC was 3-4 weeks ago.

This is the #1 cause of death on ray! Not the fillet..

Massivore and carnivore are expensive but sinking cichlid gold is cheap and is what I use as a staple w/ a mix of the others. Pellets are much safer all around. I am not a believer in a varied diet like most seeing as everything fed in a varied diet can be found in pellets w/ no ill effects.

I like to give my fish pellets and fish alternately. Not because I believe in variety diet, but I believe feeding pellets alone could cause digestive issue on certain fish, not ray though, since I don't have much experience with ray

 

[MeAko]

This is the #1 cause of death on ray! Not the fillet..

Okay, so it's your position that 0 ammonia and 80-90ppm on nitrates leads to sudden violent deaths of rays. I have kept my nitrates at 15ppm for a long time and only slackened for this season. You want me to believe that one sudden round of lazy led to fish death.

The ray was eating fine one day and then suddenly the day after I fed the fillet won't eat and have rots on their discs and dies within 2-3 days.

Notwithstanding, that the other fish are fine, even the other two rays. It is your belief that nitrates below 100ppm (for less than 1 month) will kill rays.

This forum just has such an abundance of geniuses it is exhilarating.

 

[skynoch]

There is something else you are probably missing as even if the food was rotten I don't believe you would see rotting on the rays disc from bad food. Your test kit may be bad, you may get ammonia spikes after feeding if your bio isn't up to snuff, your bottom may not have been cleaned often enough, your rays in bad water long term could slowly breakdown thier immune system causing secondary problems, your filters may be dirty causing problems... just some thoughts on what could have killed the ray or brought it to the point where bad food might have done it.

 

[turkeyboy85]

What is your PH at? You you could have had a giant PH swing as well..... Just throwing out ideas.

 

[Just Toby]

90 ppm IMO is too high and as test kits have this as their upper range it could easily be double that, my test kits vary by about 40ppm based on brand so I take an average of 3, the older they get the lower they read ime.

Also with rainwater being possibly low in hardness the left over water could be low in buffering, after 4 weeks of no wc the ph could be crashing or swinging leading to slow down of filter bacteria, this could lead to further ammonia spikes.

I would not rule out anything, I think the slight about geniuses is a little unfair as having an open mind is a sure sign of wisdom.

 

[jlnguyen74]

Okay, so it's your position that 0 ammonia and 80-90ppm on nitrates leads to sudden violent deaths of rays. I have kept my nitrates at 15ppm for a long time and only slackened for this season. You want me to believe that one sudden round of lazy led to fish death.

The ray was eating fine one day and then suddenly the day after I fed the fillet won't eat and have rots on their discs and dies within 2-3 days.

Notwithstanding, that the other fish are fine, even the other two rays. It is your belief that nitrates below 100ppm (for less than 1 month) will kill rays.

This forum just has such an abundance of geniuses it is exhilarating.

Actually, you're right... Just like you said in the tittle, #1 Cause of Death of Rays: Stupidity of Owner! Bad food, lack of water change, etc... are just some of the excuses... Really, how could a ray has ammonia burn on its disc from eating bad food?

 

[skynoch]

What is your PH at? You you could have had a giant PH swing as well..... Just throwing out ideas.

More likely the cause than the stuff I mentioned.

 

[DavidW]

gotta love irony especially when its unintended.

 

[MeAko]

What is your PH at? You you could have had a giant PH swing as well..... Just throwing out ideas.

I don't even test for PH. What could be the probable cause of a giant swing?

I would not rule out anything, I think the slight about geniuses is a little unfair as having an open mind is a sure sign of wisdom.

You are right. I humbly apologize to the community for my rashness.

I guess I'd attribute it to guilt, mourning and stress from the death. I feel very bad as it is, thus my self-deprecating title, there was no need for him to have rubbed it in my face that it was my fault.

I would suggest that people be more considerate when posting messages after an owner suffers a death.

BTW, I don't use rainwater, my pond is indoor. When I say I wait for the drums to be empty before I do a WC, it means the drums are still full of pond water that the maids still have to use to water the garden. When I do WC, I pump the pond water to 500G drums outside and replace with water from the faucet.

There is something else you are probably missing as even if the food was rotten I don't believe you would see rotting on the rays disc from bad food. Your test kit may be bad, you may get ammonia spikes after feeding if your bio isn't up to snuff, your bottom may not have been cleaned often enough, your rays in bad water long term could slowly breakdown thier immune system causing secondary problems, your filters may be dirty causing problems... just some thoughts on what could have killed the ray or brought it to the point where bad food might have done it.

Thanks for the sensible inputs. I believe my bio is ample considering I have two tall towers with a stocklist that is very minimal considering it is 1,000G. I have a bare bottom and is cleaned with net every time there is dirt seen by the naked eye.

My water was pristine and I only slackened the last two months. Although the days following the rotten fillet incident, poop was overly abundant--am not too sure why that would be the case, but ammonia might have spike too.

I believe the rotten fillet might have caused the immune system of the ray to breakdown and led it to being overly sensitive to the "poor" water.

I did another monster change this AM, before I did the Nitrate was around 40ppm. After the change it should be less than 20ppm I think.

All the rest of the fish are okay including the two rays. Everyone's fasting though.

Thanks to everyone for all the inputs, I still have a lot to learn and appreciate all the posts.