My 3yr old died!

[Lupin]

the tank smelled a little funky this morning, figured it was time to clean again when i saw my three yr old CL floating at the top. I dont know what could have happened to it. ive killed a few smaller ones but thats usually within a few days of getting them. ive had this one for three years. any known causes of SCLD? (Sudden Clown Loach Death)
There is a small spot on his right sidewhere he may have gotten stuck between the heater and the side but i doubt that. i use marineland stealth and ive never had a burn problem from it. the spot could also have been where fish were chewing on him postmortum

Toehead, please post your water parameters, size of tank and tankmates. Include tank maintenance regimen, foods you feed them and schedule of feeding. I hope you can post more details that you can because I want to know as well what exactly would cause sudden deaths.

 

[toehead11183]

standars 150g, 2-biowheel 350s and a 200g/350gph canisterfilter. 2-250w marineland stealth heaters
Amm: 0
Nitrite:0
nitrate:-5
pH: 7.8
temp: 77*
salt: 0

Tankmates:
6 frontosa- 3-5"
leleupi-2"
3 julidochromis2-3"
brevis-1"
caudopunctatus- 1"
Copad. borleyi (redfin)-3"
9 Clown loaches 1-4"
2 clown pleco-2"
1 madtom catfish 3"
4 applesnails 1-3"
female betta1"

Foods:
algae wafers
cichlid pellets
shrimp pellets
tropical 'crisps'
Sanfran bay frozes bloodsworms
frozen oysters
raw cucumber

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only thing i have done different lately was buy a new CL and start feeding raw cucumber to the snail which the CLs eat too.

 

[toehead11183]

anyone think i may be the cucumbers? thats the only thing ive done different lately.

 

[Rare_Cichlids]

sorry for the loss. perimeters look good... i would maybe try to lower the PH a bit, but i know that CL's can get used to 7.8 or even more.

 

[Angler]

Sorry for your loss. It is the worst when they die totally unexpectedly. When I had Africans, I had a WC Ps. Kingsizei male who died suddenly in a healthy tank.

Anyways, I doubt it was the cucumber.

 

[ewurm]

I think the cucmber would not be the cause too.

 

[Lupin]

sorry for the loss. perimeters look good... i would maybe try to lower the PH a bit, but i know that CL's can get used to 7.8 or even more.

No need to lower it. Toehead mentioned the clown loach died suddenly after buying a new fish. The possibilities are aggression and stress. The new clown loach could have removed the old one out of its territory and harass it to the point that it could no longer handle the trauma. It is possible at times with new fish but does not happen very often.

And just to be on safer side, don't try to mix the loaches with African cichlids. It can work but the cichlids undoubtedly are very unpredictable and it is not easy when to predict they'll react differently towards their tankmates. It's time you separate the cichlids and loaches. You might be able to avoid the repeat of this incident.

If I see any more possibilities, I'll try to post as much as possible.