Came home today to find my 8 inch female castexi (areole) dead! She was fine last night, I did not check on rays until this evening. She was my biggest ray and my biggest eater. She was my wifes favorite. She was in my 200 gallon tank with an 80 gallon sump. The only thing that I change recently was I added some more clean black gravel (5 lbs) and added 3 lbs of salt last week. Friday I did my usual 25% water change, siphoned the gravel, and changed my filter pad in my filter. I was going to do another water change today cause I do one every 3 days. I fed my rays first and then I noticed her sitting still and saw her eyes clouded over and not breathing. I pulled her out and imediately took pics and tested the water. Here are my results:
Ammonia was 0-.25ppm (looked 0 to me, had wife do a test and she said it was a touch higher than 0 but not .25
Nitrite was 0 ppm
Nitrate was 40 ppm (reason I do 3 day water changes)
pH 7.6 (stays steady)
Temp was 86 (stays between 86 and 88)
System has been running for 8 months now. Here are the pics. I noticed she is red around the gills. I have not noticed this before and don't know if it is red because she has been dead for so long. All other rays look fine and are white on there bellies. They all ate like they had no worries.
Ammonia was 0-.25ppm (looked 0 to me, had wife do a test and she said it was a touch higher than 0 but not .25
Nitrite was 0 ppm
Nitrate was 40 ppm (reason I do 3 day water changes)
pH 7.6 (stays steady)
Temp was 86 (stays between 86 and 88)
System has been running for 8 months now. Here are the pics. I noticed she is red around the gills. I have not noticed this before and don't know if it is red because she has been dead for so long. All other rays look fine and are white on there bellies. They all ate like they had no worries.
