Dead front...?

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NewETown

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 5, 2008
189
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Washington
So I woke up this morning to find my (awesome) dominate male front dead. Not killed, he just died :(. My water tested fine, perfect PH, no ammonia, no nitrites, low nitrates. I haven't lost a fish in about a month since my Xeno's died, and this is completely baffling to me. He was swimming around eating normally yesterday, and then today he's under a rock dead? He died with his mouth open, I don't know if that means anything (possible lack of oxygen in a tank with 2 Aquaclear 70 overhangs...?) but I'm assuming it doesn't.

The only thing I can think of is the tank might be too warm. It's about 83 now, I have a hard time getting the temperature to go down without going too low. I live in Washington state, and anyone who's lived here knows nobody has A/C and the temperature of my house goes from 60-75° throughout the day. Is it possible that he wasn't able to handle the warmer temps but my small little Cyprichromis were? It doesn't make any sense.

Quick edit: It's not possible for them to be allergic or something to the food is it? I feed spectrum and algae wafers (almost daily for the wafers) then frozen brine/mysis shrimp a couple times a week. I'm really stumped here.

Oh yeah, I just did a water change. I do them every 7-10 days, with complete gravel vac the last time I did it.
 
He's in my 75 with Neolamps (Pulcher and Caudopunctatus), Cyps, other fronts (same "batch" from the same local breeder), two Synodontis and two Bushy nose plecos. Oh and a couple Juli. Dickfeldi...

You can see why I'm stumped haha.
 
Any chasing or aggression issues ? I had some brichardi and when a couple paired off the aggression from those tiny fish was amazing. Could easily stress a fish to death overnight.

You said he was under a rock, any chance the rock shifted and trapped him ? I had a fish die in my mbuna tank from that, i had cleaned the rocks and they were small fish still and i shifted a rock and a little lab got caught back there under the rock.

you mentioned you had deaths earlier, how long ago , how many and what was the cause ?

I would try to keep the temp between 79-80 for fronts. I even tend to stay on the warm side compared to other people i talk to.
 
I did consider that the rock had trapped him, but without moving the rock I was able to get him out with my hand...so I doubt that was the problem. As far as aggression goes, I have had 0 problems, it's been great. I had an overly aggressive Juli. regani that I think was the cause of my Xenotilapia dieing (the fish that died a month ago). Again, they were random deaths, but they did have some marks on them like they had been arguing.

The front that died today was the dominant guy in the tank, although nobody really bothered each other. He had no marks and his fins were totally in tact. He was eating normally and everything, then he just kicked it. I'm going to try to bring the temp down in the tank to about 78, it might have just been too warm but none of the other fish were affected. It's a bad time of the year for me, the temperature is all over the place and I really don't have any control over it.
 
I doubt it's temp. I have a colony of Burundi ranging from wild caught 7" to F1 2". They have been in temp ranging from 68 - 84 for days on end with no visible affect. They are active throughout the temp range. I have an alpha male that is relentless with the beta and pretty much anything within 2" of him. I expect him to kick it one day just from shear exhaustion.
It could just be a fluke and just a dead fish with no real reason.
Hope you find an answer or at least a way to be ok with it.
 
I hope it's just a fluke, but I don't like flukes because they make me nervous! If a fish dies and there's a reason I'm "OK" with it because i realize it's my fault and I know what to do next time. He was just a really nice lookin Front and was way cool :-/. Is it possible that I overfed them? There is never any excess food at the bottom, but I do feed twice a day.
 
I doubt that you overfed to death. I would guess that it was the rock from what you said. Just because you could slide him out from under it with your hand does not mean he could get his body out on his own. He might not have been able to move his body enough and if he was facing the wrong way and could not move his other fins ... He could have felt trapped and died of stress from feeling trapped. Thats just my guess.

I would think if it was bad food more fish would be belly up and i just dont see overfeeding.

He was not hanging out at the top of the tank or appear to have trouble diving to the bottom of the tank did he ? If he did that could be float, that can be fatal .
 
Sorry about the Front...
 
Thanks Fanatic, and no it wasn't float. I worked at a LFS for about a year and a half so I've gotten good at ID-ing disease and whatnot. It really could have been the rock, but he would have had to swim into it to get himself stuck, and I just can't picture him doing that. Although the more I think about it the more likely I think it was that, if it wasn't just a fluke.

I always give my little guys the best food ;) I personally think it makes a huge difference in how they turn out as adults.
 
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