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

[jeffers]

it seems like everytime we slack just a little bit bad things happen in the world of fish keeping. 2 months of slacking can really add up. now after everything is mentioned i think the fillet was the least of your problems.

i would for sure get a ph tester to have to kinda see what it is doing so you know if you need to have any buffers in there of some kind.

also since the poop was abundant maybe its time to upgrade the filtration or work on getting it out of there faster since this will produce more ammonia and as fish grow they produce more so maybe it is time for a filter upgrade of some sort and to keep up on the wc's. the burns on the ray have nothing to do with the fillet no matter how you cut it.

im really sorry to hear your loss but as long as you keep moving forward and learn from your mistakes is what matters. so start focusing less on the fillet and more on the other issues at hand.
good luck.

 

[Just Toby]

I am sorry if I was i sensitive to your loss, I know how hard it can be.

pH might seem basic but the build up of organic waste in a low hardness can lead to a rapidly falling ph, without testing you can end up so low that your bacteria fails to work.


I was guilty of this when I had a shop, my ph at tap was over 6 so I assumed that was my tank ph, little did I know that my wholesaler had a high ph and buffered down to 6' his water added to mine buffered down to below 4.5! I lost a lot of fish and so did my customers until I realised the problem....without testing how can you know what is wrong...

With a ph swinging everything else stops working too!

 

[MeAko]

I am sorry if I was i sensitive to your loss, I know how hard it can be.

pH might seem basic but the build up of organic waste in a low hardness can lead to a rapidly falling ph, without testing you can end up so low that your bacteria fails to work.


I was guilty of this when I had a shop, my ph at tap was over 6 so I assumed that was my tank ph, little did I know that my wholesaler had a high ph and buffered down to 6' his water added to mine buffered down to below 4.5! I lost a lot of fish and so did my customers until I realised the problem....without testing how can you know what is wrong...

With a ph swinging everything else stops working too!

Wasn't referring to you. You've been very helpful.

I'll read up further on PH as my impression is that stability is key in "managing" PH. I'm not sure what is in my ecosystem that can cause swings of it.

I've come up with another theory why there were "burns" on the ray's disc, they might have been bite marks from the FRT. I've never seen the FRT charge, until last night when I took a peak with the lights out. I've since transferred him out.

I've also cleaned my filters (backbreaking work, considering how much media I have). They were FILTHY! My nitrates are down to 15ppm. Ammonia is still 0ppm.

My first feeding after the death was today, everyone was very hungry--EXCEPT for the rays. The big one took two mussels, the small one barely ate. Guess they're still recovering from the upset stomach.

Problem is, I need to travel, and it's gonna be for 7 days. I've taught the maid how to feed the fish. Hope it goes well. Horror stories of other people feeding abound but I don't really have much choice.

 

[Just Toby]

Good Luck, I hope it all goes well.

I think you just have to drill it in to the maid to not feed them more ...no matter how hungry they seem.

I tend to bag my feeds up in freezer bags for each day and leave instructions that if anything looks odd to stop feeding and use the dip strip tests and report back to me or the LFS.

I think that any swing of PH is unlikely to be anything in the system apart from sheer bio load from the fish...everytime a fish has a big poop it can affect it if the water doesnt have any buffering, the only thing you can do is test the PH at different times and measure the GH and KH to get a feel for it, if the water is SOFT then you can add some coral gravel to the filters to harden the water which buffers against the problem.

Also do the same tests on the tap water and try ageing some over night and testing as soft water can drop very quickly.

Do you lose a lot to evaporation, I imagine not in your climate?

Last time I went I left a shallow spoon with instructions to feed no more than 2 level scoops per day...

You need to get you maid registered on here so she can ask questions if not in touch with you!

 

[jeffers]

if you can get a tube down to the bottom of the pool then i would keep it caped till its to the bottom then uncap it and cap it back to get some readings off of the bottom since that is where the rays are located. might be different then what you are getting up top if you dont have enough flow on the bottom.

 

[Pazzoman]

Hope all goes well, you have a very nice set up. I hope your rays pull through.

 

[Just Toby]

it seems like everytime we slack just a little bit bad things happen in the world of fish keeping. 2 months of slacking can really add up. now after everything is mentioned i think the fillet was the least of your problems.

i would for sure get a ph tester to have to kinda see what it is doing so you know if you need to have any buffers in there of some kind.

also since the poop was abundant maybe its time to upgrade the filtration or work on getting it out of there faster since this will produce more ammonia and as fish grow they produce more so maybe it is time for a filter upgrade of some sort and to keep up on the wc's. the burns on the ray have nothing to do with the fillet no matter how you
good luck.

I think this answers it perfectly.

The point about slacking off a little is so true, this is the main reason I am so focussed on removing nitrate without the need for large manual water changes as we can all slack a little and I believe that nitrates can soar over as little as 2weeks and do more harm than many are aware or care to believe.