Mysterious Oranda Death

[labnjab]

I found our larger female oranda dead this morning. We've had here for over a year and she was pushing 7 inches long. She was our favorite too. The water parameters are in check, 0 ammonia, 0 trites, and less the 20 nitrates. Her body looked healthy and she was eating the night before.

Is there anything that could have killed her instantly? I was thinking that she may have hit a nitrate pocket in the sand, but the sand isn't really deep and they are always stirring it around. She did have a cloudy eye a few weeks ago but it cleared up on its own in a day. The rest of the fish are healthy and acting normal

[Deleted User]

Hopefully you'll get some insight from other members here, but I do want to tell you I am sorry for your loss. Goldfish are very easy to get attached to and I'm sorry about your girl http://www.getsmile.com/emoticons/smileys-91853/aiw/sad.gif

[Rue]

Sorry! It's happened to me too...no idea why. I'm wondering how much is due to poor genetics...

[megastealer]

Sorry to hear that. :scry:

Could have been something like a heart attack or stroke, maybe even caused by a genetic defect of the heart or something else... if it happens to people I am guessing it could happen to fish. There is really no way of knowing, but it sounds like there was nothing you could do. :sconfused:

[Scrup]

Sorry to hear about that...
I have heard of goldfish choking on small pebbles, seen a few of them with bee stings (usually recover from the bee stings)...really no way to tell for sure without an autopsy.

[hybridguy]

Sorry for your loss, i just lost my redtail catfish today so i know how u feel. I also had a redcap aranda die apparently for no reason, guess it was just his time.Sorry again for the loss.:scry:

[labnjab]

Thank you everyone. I'm probably not going to replace her anytime soon. 6 was a little too much for a 75 gallon. Besides I want to make sure it wasn't something in the water.

I'm starting to think it may have been genetics or something like that. Now that I look back she wasn't growing nearly as fast as everyone else and her wen wasn't developing nearly as fast as our other oranda's wens are. We got here from a not so great fish store very cheaply.

We bought a small orange oranda in February that was around 4 inches and he is now almost the size as she was, and its wen is almost 3 times the size as hers. We got him from a more reputable store for about 3 times what we got her from, so maybe she has better genes.

[Lady Hobbs]

Never heard of a nitrate pocket but this sure takes me back to losing my blood parrot two weeks ago. Unexplained, as well, but it's really annoying when any one of 50 others could have died and I wouldn't have been so heart broken. I'm really sorry and know how you feel.

[labnjab]

Thank you lady hobbs. Sorry about your blood parrot too. If it was a neon or serpa, it wouldn't have bothered us so much, but we've had her for a year and got attached.

[Deleted User]

I'm happy you are probably onto something as far as "why" you lost her. We have had 2 fancy goldfish that didn't grow like our others did. One we lost, one is still here but is small. The others have grown much faster and are a lot bigger.

Having an idea of "why" helps so much in these things. We've lost a couple horses from other than in old age. One during birth (we and the vet tried for hours to save her from 2am - 7am) and two that died of rhodo. pneumonia as foals -- they brought it here from their breeders but in a round about very weird twist of fate, loosing those two foals ended up probably saving my own life. It never feels good to loose an animal, but knowing why helps so much. It really helps with closure.

...


Lady Hobbs -- I've thought of you so much since getting our parrots last weekend. While I care about all the fish and enjoy them all. Some more than others... Loosing a parrot even though we just got them, I can imagine that would be one fish death that would make me cry. They are so unlike any of the other fish we keep (and we do have other cichlids). Those parrots are like regular pets as far as how they seem so into and responsive to me. I am very attached to them already and am so sorry for what you just went through!

[HomaridNoob6]

Could have been something like a heart attack or stroke, maybe even caused by a genetic defect of the heart or something else... if it happens to people I am guessing it could happen to fish. There is really no way of knowing, but it sounds like there was nothing you could do.

I second this idea from Megastealer, Things that you normally wouldn't think of happening to a fish can, and do occur. A fish can have a heart attack, a blood clot, a stroke, many illnesses that are totally uncontrollable and unpreventable just like a human can. Sorry to hear about your Oranda.