Lake Malawi Species • peacock died - why?

[vann59]

I take care of a tank for a non profit and I just did some major reworking on it yesterday. I worked on it for 14 hours due to a perfect storm of unforeseen challenges. It doesn't currently have many fish in it, and I put two yellow labs and a red peacock in one bucket together about half full with tank water.

In the evening when I went to put the fish back in the tank, the peacock had died, but the two yellow labs seemed ok.

They were in air conditioning, and the top of the tank was partially covered. Why do you think the peacock died? Since they are shipped in small amounts water for 24 hours or more, I would have thought he would have been fine.

What do you think happened?

[mfish1]

usually they add oxygen to the water before shipping which is why they can survive in those bags for so long

[ILCichlid]

I am sure stress played a pretty good role. Yellow labs are quite the nippers and in that small of an area I am sure they'd harass the peacock

[vann59]

He was in there about ten hours total, and they were about 3.5 inches long average, and the peacock was a little bigger than the other two. But I had left a net in the bucket, and he did swim into the net, but didn't look trapped. Perhaps he may have gotten in there and freaked. I probably should have taken the net out. I have had fish in buckets with a net before, and they seem to hide under it, as if they like it being there, so I didn't think anything about it.

[ILCichlid]

Ah 10 hours is a long time for those sized fish to be without a new source of air.

[DanniGirl]

vann59,
Sorry to hear he died.
Sometimes, when fish are shipped, they've also been lightly-sedated.

Being placed in a bucket for 10 hours without any type of gas exchange and coupled with stress is probably what did him in. Some fish handle it better than others. But still, it's a disappointment.

[RifterFish]

I agree, a combination of tank water (not fresh, clean water) and no aeration for that long is a recipe for disaster. You are lucky you only lost one. Next time you need to do a major overhaul, that absolutely requires you to take the fish out, stick the end tube of an air pump in there so it can create oxygen for them. I did this when I had to move all my tanks to our new home. For normal water changes and substrate cleaning you can just leave them in the tank. Keep in mind, when fish are shipped the bags are filled with new clean water and also conditioner that reduces stress during shipping. Some add divers oxygen to the bag as well. I was watching the discovery channel the other day and I believe a pop quiz said that the only fish that can breath oxygen from both the water and regular air are goldfish. I am guessing bettas only breath regular air from the surface. Which means that 99% of fish cannot stick their head out of the water and breath if there isn't any oxygen being created in the water through agitation and circulation. I never really thought about it before then. I thought the fish could get at least some oxygen by gasping for air at the top, but nope.

[DJRansome]

I am sure stress played a pretty good role. Yellow labs are quite the nippers and in that small of an area I am sure they'd harass the peacock

This would be my theory. Although I use an air stone with buckets, I've also had tanks with no filtration for more than 10 hours be fine.

Next time separate the peacocks from the mbuna maybe?

[vann59]

Yeah, maybe I should have separated them, but I had thought those would get along ok, and I had put another little guy alone in a bucket. An airstone would no doubt have been good, if I had lines for each.

Thanks for all the input from everyone. This forum is the best.

[DJRansome]

We have hindsight. Sorry for your loss.