My RTC just died, not sure what happened?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I vote for the regurgitation too. She was stressed in too small a tank, feeling trapped all the time.

Have you been measuring the water for the basic ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, pH, and temp? If no - huge mistake. Any one of these parameters could kill if not in check. If yes and all those are within the norm, then it is the stress of too small a home, followed by puking, followed by quick death - in such a small tank/water volume, the stomach acid from the puking alone could have been enough to kill, not to mention paralyzing the filter/pump/BB/oxygen supply, etc.

I like how receptive and conscientious you are and you know where you went wrong. I commend you for this greatly. I've learned from many similar painful mistakes. But yes, you've kept a Clydesdale in a pony barn. No big surprise in the outcome. I am surprised there apparently was no violent thrashing and darting and attempts to knock the cover off, as you didn't mention those. It is not a must but an often observed behavior of RTCs in too small tanks.
 
thebiggerthebetter said:
I vote for the regurgitation too. She was stressed in too small a tank, feeling trapped all the time.

Have you been measuring the water for the basic ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, pH, and temp? If no - huge mistake. Any one of these parameters could kill if not in check. If yes and all those are within the norm, then it is the stress of too small a home, followed by puking, followed by quick death - in such a small tank/water volume, the stomach acid from the puking alone could have been enough to kill, not to mention paralyzing the filter/pump/BB/oxygen supply, etc.

I like how receptive and conscientious you are and you know where you went wrong. I commend you for this greatly. I've learned from many similar painful mistakes. But yes, you've kept a Clydesdale in a pony barn. No big surprise in the outcome. I am surprised there apparently was no violent thrashing and darting and attempts to knock the cover off, as you didn't mention those. It is not a must but an often observed behavior of RTCs in too small tanks.
Click to expand...

she never had any of those behaviors. she would just calmly swim around and eat all the time. my roommate said he was home last night and heard a lot of splashing and thrashing around...when he came out to check on her, the water was milky and she was going belly up...he also said he fed her the day before, the amount i told him to give her...it is possible she could have puked it up...just odd how this happened the one time i decided to be gone for more than a day...
 
I understand. And it's the Murphy's law, as we all know it.

BTW it is hard to "swim around" when you are longer than the tank's width and slightly under the tank's half length.
 
Your fish is dead because it's a monster fish and required a monster tank with good filtration.


People just don't seem to get it!! Put the proper sized tanks and equipment in first before buying monster fish or any kind of fish that grows big. It's too late after the fact. RTC shouldn't even be in the hobby due to the size they grow let alone being housed in an 80 gallon tank. Another thread of "Why is my fish dead I was going to upgrade one day"
 
Coming from someone who just lost a catfish myself (I joined this forum because of him) and I had recently announced his passsing...he was large. In a 5 gallon utility bucket, my husband said kitty stuck out 6/7"...he showed me his hands. I couldn't say my goodbye's to kitty to tell ya, but anyways, I tried measuring him over the years and last couple of times it was at 29". Now, he was kept in a 265g that has a rtc that has a fully stocked 30g sump, UV light and pump running into that for additional air flow back into (if that makes sense)...anyways, my RTC would puke up the food when not stressed (seen it happen 2ce, once with a live fish that was too big for him). Stress had nothing to do with it. He only pukes it back up when we feed him too much too fast (or he has himself a feast). I've had the RTC for lil over 3 years now. I'm sure I know what killed kittyfish as the lfs warned me years ago, and I didn't listen...it caught up I guess... but kitty touched the front to the back and his tail curved inward, yet, it's on my older threads that there's "good" advice that a 265's a minimum sized tank for life for that catfish. All the books and online forums state that achara's get up to 24-25"...mine was obviously much bigger, but never puked, even when stressed or gorged himself. I also have had rtc x tsn (committed suicide on driftwood slates) and I currently have an achara x tsn hybrid cat who has never gorged himself to get sick. Now, I did have an algae eater who gorged himself to death, literally. A clown pleco who got gout and died a couple hours later after the belly bloated out. I was bummed. Guess plecos don't throw up. But, I do agree that it sounds like your RTC threw up some food while you were gone from the sound of the water color and the smell. I had that smell with the first time my RTC threw up; it was horrible and almost crashed my tank (different tank, grow out 125g). He gorged himself and had a bulging belly afterwards. I didn't think anything of it other than he wouldn't be able to move much afterwards...well, I almost lost a few fish during the next 2 days after he threw up as everyone, incluinding him, were gasping at the top of the tank for air and it smelled horrible. As soon as I walked in the room I could tell. But, I feel bad for you. It does suck and it's a valuable lesson learned what we go through...
 
Sorry for the loss. I housed a rtc a bit larger than your's in a 125 as my first catfish. I would measure the water params daily and I could never keep them in check. I had crap HOB filters (larger avail at the time), and did massive daily water changes. AFter 1.5 years it was 24" and house alone. I did at least 50 gal changes a day. The LFS would not take the fish because of it's size. At the time 2001 I did not have the internet or a computer. The fish puked one night really bad after feeding too many worms I think. I was up all night for 3 nights doing constant water changes when I wasn't at work. Finally the fish died. I sold my tanks and went into the military. Started back into the hobby after a few years of research, and planning in 2004. It sucks really bad to lose fish. Unfortunately in our hobby this is how we learn and move on to keep better once we know better.
 
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