[adam858585]

Right, one of my red zebras is pointing vertically at the tank floor and looking as if it is about to die, i dont know why, i do regular water changes and there is minimal aggresion in the tank, it seemed fine yesterday but it seems to have taken a turn for the worst.
Here is my stupid question but i must ask it, what are the consequences of leaving a dead fish in the tank? i have stacks of ocean rock and it will be almost impossible to remove them to get at the fish. Can somebody please give me some advice.Thankyou

 

[BoilerFan]

Strictly speaking, it will cause an large ammonia spike as it decays. There's also a pretty good chance that whatver killed it will spread to the rest of your fish.

The bottom line is don't leave it in the tank if it dies.

 

[adam858585]

will the other fish eat it? i dont know what is wrong with it, colouration is fine and it doesnt seem to have any illness just slight damage to the fins. its not swimming properly and is under a rock right at the bottom of the stack, its going to be a major pain in the arse if i have to remove it. Will it float to the top if it dies?

 

[fish_addiction]

will the other fish eat it? i dont know what is wrong with it, colouration is fine and it doesnt seem to have any illness just slight damage to the fins. its not swimming properly and is under a rock right at the bottom of the stack, its going to be a major pain in the arse if i have to remove it. Will it float to the top if it dies?

No,

It will sink. Bottom line is, set your tank up so that you can get to a sick fish and remove it for quarantine. Another option would be draining the tank until there's only 2-3" of water. They're much easier to catch that way. Good luck :thumb:

 

[adam858585]

i managed to get to it using a syphon, unfortunately i have had to get rid of it, i cant risk it killing the other fish and i have no other tank to put it in. I am just going to have to closely monitor the fish now and check all my water parameters. Thanks for the advice though guys

 

[fish_addiction]

It happens

Set yourself a quarantine tank up. You will need it in the future. It can be as simple as a 5 Gallon bucket with a heater and a simple filter or airstone. Best of luck, and be sure to check all the water parameters now that you have removed the fish. More than likely, something is out of whack and led to his demise.

 

[adam858585]

Thanks for the advice, pretty gutted to be honest, i thought she was going to breed with my male red zebra as they have been doing there little mating dance over the last few days. Im going to do my best to set another tank up, its just persuading the ball and chain to let me do it.

 

[adam858585]

Would it be a bad idea to replace the dead fish once i know all the parameters are ok, in other words if i add a single fish will it just get battered? or what if i add another fish which is larger than the previous, will it stand a better chance?

 

[DJRansome]

Even though you did not witness any aggression, the condition and posture of the fish sounds like it was being victimized.

So that means that yes, if you do not solve the aggression problems, either any new fish (you always want to add more than one...I like to do six at a time) or even the next most sub-dominant fish in your tank may become a victim fish.

Also when stressed like this the fish can become susceptible to diseases like bloat which infect the other fish. So I'd (a) address the aggression, and (b) wait a month before adding fish to ensure there are no cases of bloat (or anything else) among the remaining fish.

What are the dimensions of your tank and how is it stocked?