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My story begins with 2 L260 that I bought about 2 months ago... The time passed and got restless. I wanted a stripey fish so badly that I took one of my stripeys and part exchanged it for an excellent looking young L333 four days ago... THAT'S RIGHT FOUR DAYS.

I was absolutely facinated by this fish because it made NO attempts to hide and was swimming around day and night...

Now for the murderer ... Fluval Biolife... Quite innocent looking, but very deadly.

Yesterday night I spotted the L333 "resting" under the filter... Still breathing, so I went to bed in the knowledge that the fishy was safe and sound. This morning I looked in the same place and the fish had faded... STRANGE... It's not moving!

What had happened was that the fish got trapped between the filter and the gravel underneath the filter!

I am absolutely gutted. I have had the fish for 4 days... And to add insult to injury the fish was the first to ever die on me... Not though the usual beginner mistakes; High ammonia, Nitrite, PH fluctuations... ect... But through suffocation... its lungs were blue when I pulled it out.

Madmoroccan,

Honey, I'm sorry to hear about your loss. I know how you feel.

Take care,
Kathy

Thanks Kathy...

I never thought I'd say this but I am really cut up about the death... I cant stop thinking about it... SAD... I know! It really winds me up that in some way I might have had something to do with the death.

Oh well... I guess I will make the tank even safer now, but at what cost? I just hope my last L260 doesn't croak it, I will definately pack it all in if that happens.

Bader.

in the words of some fishing guy i cant rember
"NEVER GIVE UP!!!"

hey i rember his name is mikeicaneli or somthing like that mac you look quite like him

Buds right!

It sounds like you've been very lucky if you've only just lost your first fish..we've all been there, like anything it's learning process...

I'm not sure how he was resting in the same place the night before...then you see him the next day in the same place...and then blame the filter?
Surely if he was in the same place the previous night you would of noticed he was stuck then, not the next morning?
In my experience of fish being trapped...when I find them they are ususal torn to shreds from trying to free themselves. The fact that his lungs are blue and that is the only the only sign..to me would imply to me it had nothing to do with being trapped..plus suffocation would imply he was trapped tight enough to not be able to breath....unlikely i think.
If I had to guess I say it was something other than the filter, suffocation/trapped due to the filter....not really sure what though without seeing pics and water parameters.

Sorry for your loss though.

Sorry to hear about your loss, I have to agree that this has also happened to me. More over on the cichlid hobby side.

We know how you feel. We all have thought of packing it up. Three years ago I got the discus plague and lost 26 discus (14 adults I had grown out) I was told by an importer that the fish had been QT and dewormed. The affected fish didn't appear to be sick and didn't die from illness. I had to put it down because he was a carrier. I had him in QT for four weeks and he still killed all my other babies.

My husband thought I was making myself sick. I had not cried like that since I was a little girl.

Now my QT tank is in a different room, I QT fish longer and have dedicated water changing systems for each tank. I also bleached my equipment an did quit for several months. I only deal with one breeder. I know I can trust him. Well, now I breed my own and I know my babies are clean.

Trust...funny word. You want to trust a breeder, an importer, or products to cause no harm. I really hurts and you feel wronged. Not to mention the death of a innocent creature. Sorry to get off track...but I learned we have all had fish loss and have been heart broken. It doesn't make the pain go away but you do know we are with you and truly understand.

Yes my first fish loss was in a 10 gallon bedside tank dad intradused (spelled wrong becuase im in a hurry and am to lazy to look things up) a sword tail that looked weird. Then all my tetras got a pineconeish disease that made there scales stick up and they swell like a balloon and die 2 days later the whole tank was wiped out and i gave up for 2 monthes. Then i put guppys in the 10 gallon bought a 29 gallon made it a puffer tank and now have plans for tanks 3-5 with number 3 on its way as the L46 tank.

i lost 24 zeb fry at 3 months old to weekend filter failure, ya just have to take the good with the bad i suppose,

I worry about power failures. In the southeast US we have a lot of hurricanes and tornados. I purchased a generator just for my fish. My neighbors think I'm crazy but I but I'll find some folks that'll agree with me. Its good to have backup power.

I never want to go through another massive fish loss.

Khblock,
I was looking into a power supply generator myself as I feel Southern Cali will have a earthquake soon!! Can you tell me what type you bought?
Thanks

yes i live in thunder storm ally and have been looking into it what should i use?
i read abought one guy in Florida and he bought 2 car bateries put one in his car kept the other near the tank for backup aparently it can run heaters and filters for a few weeks and when you run a car it charges a battery so he never needs to buy another just needs to switch them out

I understand your frustration madmoroccan, just recently I lost a female Blue Ram after he mate got pissed at her for eating the whole clutch of eggs and he tore of a chunk of her scales. Unfortunately, it was too late when I saw the wound and she ended up dieing. What was even more frustrating is the fact that she was the most beautiful female Ram I've ever seen; too bad for the 'domestic violence'.

The most important thing is to keep the water quality up; IMO, with great water quality you should never see any fish-related diseases. UV sterilizers are rarely a good solution as they cause the fish's natural immune system to weaken overtime. A perfectly balanced tank is that in which the plants are thriving and there is no visible algae; when the plants are happy, your fish are happy. Plants are much more efficient biofilters than anything man-made (especially emersed or floating plants); even ask your local waste treatment plant.

Khblock,
I was looking into a power supply generator myself as I feel Southern Cali will have a earthquake soon!! Can you tell me what type you bought?
Thanks

We bought the Coleman Powermate 5000 HP. I think we got it Sam's Club. I don't know if you have them there or not. They had it at a good price.

I just saw all the replies...

@ Plastic...

Nope, definately jammed between the filter and gravel... It took me about 5 attempts to get the dead fishie out, and the water params were 0A 0.1NI 0.3NA Ph7.6... Thats all I tested for... plus because its a community tank, if it was the water condition wouldnt the shrimp died first since they are the most sensitive to water quality? if it was disease i would have had more deaths by now too. So that just about rules out poor water quality and disease. I couldn't be bothered to take a picture either because I was too upset at the fish dieing... I flushed it straight away. I am 100% sure it was suffocation. Blue lungs actually prove that, My neighbour who is a vet confirmed this.

@ Hamish...

Sorry to hear that, I have two filters for that reason... And a Marina temprature monitor... I would have got in contact with the manufacturer if I were you!!! How old was the filter? Which was it?

@Highfive

Hi, and welcome... I haven't seen you around. Hopefully, you will get into the hobby if you're not already.

@ KHBlock...

We don't have those power failiure problems here in the UK, but now that I've said that...

@thebuddy

Count yourself lucky your fish didn't eat a bad batch of bloodworm and start pukeing, I read that either here or on another forum. There are some bad fish diseases out there!

@ Raul...

Nasty males! LOL, did the male really take it that personally? I don't wish that on anybody all the same.