I think I'm done...

[arowfan]

sorry to hear that conner...i'd feel the same way too; i would take a break, enjoy what you have now, and when your feeling up to it, get yourself another ray
hang in there man

 

[Conner]

sorry to hear bro but hang in there... crap happens to everyone its just part of the hobby

which tank was this in? it only happen in 1 of your tanks? there is deff a good reason why they died but we may never find out what it was...

The catfish and the stingrays were in different tanks. But the younger male ray and the female ray were in the same tank.

 

[Conner]

what were they eating the night before?

They were both eating earthworms with their usual vigor. They also eat freeze dried krill and frozen/thawed shrimp regularly.

Sorry to hear. Sounds almost like something strange was going on and when you moved one from one tank to the other it the problem transported. Water testing is good but it only gives a snap shot to what the water looks like at that exact moment. It does not show the fluctuation in between tests. Could of been ammonia spikes over a period of time or even some kind of strange bacteria. What happened to your male was a touch on the weird side. I still do not think the rotted disk edge was caused by another fish or ray. Take a break, bleach the tank out, recycle, and give it another whirl down the road. You will be glad you did.

Yah, I still don't understand exactly why the male went the way he did either. It was too fast for just bullying, and its not like the bullying was too bad. I've had other fish recover from the same type of thing.

Thanks for the support everyone. I still have my other fish, but the tanks just seem empty without the rays in there... They were by far my favorite fish out of any I've ever owned.

 

[Gr8KarmaSF]

Sorry, a break can be good sometimes....

 

[Just Toby]

I wonder if the worms had something in them? Pesticides etc....

ALso I would work up the water for KH and GH and test the tap water for Phosphates and smell for chlorine. The local water dept may be bale to tell you of any probs that caused them to add extra Chloramine etc....

If the hardness is very low then ph could be swinging?

Check the elctrics such as a dodgy heater but be careful

If they died after feeding then likely the food or the water was a problem, had you cleaned out the filters or changed a large amount of water?

 

[Conner]

Just Toby:

I suppose its possible about the worms, although it would surprise me. The were from the same place I always get my worms, and there wasn't anything obviously wrong with either the worms or the rays when I fed.

No chlorine smell to the water. Besides, the young male died the day before a usual water change, so its not like there was any fresh chlorine/chloramine in the water (my water company does add chloramines, and they send out a report if they change anything).

I don't know about hardness, I didn't test that. But if that were an issue, I'd think I'd have had problems long before now. They've lived in this water for 8 months now...

No electrical issues, I have my hands in the tanks almost every day when I'm feeding or cleaning.

No filter cleaning or waterchange when the young male died. I did do a waterchange the day he died, then a second smaller one the next day. Female died two days after the second water change.


I'm going to keep most if not all of the fish I have for now, but I can't see getting back into rays for a while, if ever. I got much more attached to those 3 rays than I have to any other fish, and they seem to crash so much faster than other fish... maybe if I can get a really large tank set up in the future, I'll try keeping them again...