Lost a Zebra Danio... Not sure why

**mrramsey** · 11-02-2012, 12:48 PM

Hi All~ I just lost one of my Danios

Not sure of the cause. I immediately tested my water and No traces of ammonia, trates or trites. Just did a water change a week ago.

It looked pretty normal aside from the part of the head and tail being eaten. Could this have been an aggressive attack from one of the others? These are the same fish I started with.

Recent changes:
I have been prepping for my tank remodel the past week and have re-homed about 6 of my stock (all different species). I had moved the HOB from the left side of the tank to the right. Nothing too drastic that should stress the fish.

All of the others are swimming about the tank normally as far as I can tell. although they do seem to be chasing one another more than normal.

Any thoughts on this?

**imma24** · 11-02-2012, 01:26 PM

Originally Posted by mrramsey

Hi All~ I just lost one of my Danios

Not sure of the cause. I immediately tested my water and No traces of ammonia, trates or trites. Just did a water change a week ago.

It looked pretty normal aside from the part of the head and tail being eaten. Could this have been an aggressive attack from one of the others? These are the same fish I started with.

Recent changes:
I have been prepping for my tank remodel the past week and have re-homed about 6 of my stock (all different species). I had moved the HOB from the left side of the tank to the right. Nothing too drastic that should stress the fish.

Any thoughts on this?

Aside from part of the head & tail being eaten?

What did you move out of your tank? How large is your tank? Why do you have so many species - what kinds of fish are we talking about? What is currently in the tank right now?

Besides all that, if you have no readings for any of your parameters, is it possible your tank isn't cycled? How long has the tank been running?

**mrramsey** · 11-02-2012, 01:40 PM

Hi Andrea~

Tank is a 55g and has been cycled and up for the past 11 months. Everything has been healthy. I reduced the number of species based on recommendations for others that I had too many. I am preparing to remodel and change to a natural tank with live plants.

Original Stock:

5 guppies
5 black skirt tetras
2 red eye tetras
3 zebra danios
3 serpae tetras
1 upside down catfish
1 large pleco
1 buenos aries tetra

current stock:

5 black skirt tetras
2 red eye tetras
2 zebra danios
3 serpae tetras

Intent is to increase the school of this stock and add a school of cory's.

**imma24** · 11-02-2012, 01:57 PM

Originally Posted by mrramsey

Hi Andrea~

Tank is a 55g and has been cycled and up for the past 11 months. Everything has been healthy. I reduced the number of species based on recommendations for others that I had too many. I am preparing to remodel and change to a natural tank with live plants.

current stock:

5 black skirt tetras
2 red eye tetras
2 zebra danios
3 serpae tetras

Intent is to increase the school of this stock and add a school of cory's.

I'm wondering if the fish was attacked by a serpae tetra - they are considering nasty fish (nippers), especially if not in a large enough school. Yes, at least you are increasing schools

**mrramsey** · 11-02-2012, 01:58 PM

Thanks for the input... I wanted to make sure there were no other underlying issues before I started to change the tank over.

**Goes to 11!** · 11-02-2012, 04:22 PM

No TrAtes? Is that typical? it heavily planted?

Most mature, stable & cycled tanks are going to be showing some trates [Especially a week out from a WC] unless very lightly stocked and very heavily planted.
Just something I noticed.

**Dennis Bissett** · 11-02-2012, 10:22 PM

As Andrea mentioned, the serpaes can be nippy, also dont overlook the blackskirts, they get a bit agressive from time to time also

**C-Dub** · 11-03-2012, 01:12 AM

never had any issues with my serpae tetra but i've always kept them in schools of a dozen or more... I have heard on this site that in smaller schools they can cause issues.

**Goes to 11!** · 11-03-2012, 02:23 AM

I'm not even sure A serpea could catch a danio & you may never know what happened but just keep an eye on the tank parameters for a while to be sure all is copacetic.