Dead fish issue...

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athens.asad

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
May 13, 2014
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My aquarium had found a balance but recently I am surprised every Morning with a dead fish in the tank . It's almost 1 week and 10 fishes are dead . I am yet to find the culprit .all the dead fishes have their tail eaten or body scratched ! My betta & danasoni barbs died the sam way . My suspects are a 4" upside down leopard cat,a distichodus
saxifactus , or a recently added2 inch ghost knife fish .can anyone point out the culprit.i also have my huge pleco or lobster at my doubt. But I think it's the catfish doing it , has anyone seen this behaviour of upside down catfish before. ???
 
It's not the catfish . I have removed the catfish and yet today I see 4 more fishes dead with tails eaten ? Is it the ghost knife fish or distichodus ???
 
Ghost knives are nocturnal hunters so I would bet its him.

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Keep in mind that the body damage you're seeing might be happening after the fish is dead and may not be the actual cause of death.



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Hi Coyne, what does this mean . Is it that someone is killing the fishes and then eating their tail . most of the fishes dead are smaller in size than the bgkf e.g danasoni barbs, 5 mollies,bettas . Before dead they had white scratches over their body which slowed them and after few hours they were dead.
 
I suggest testing your water and check for any signs of disease on fish dead and alive. Most likely fish are just nibbling at the dead fish

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Ok... You didn't mention the fish appeared to be injured, but alive, prior to being found dead in your original post.


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Upon re-reading the first post, my first suspect would be the "lobster".


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Yeah, sounds to me as if the lobster is attempting to catch a meal and that is where the scratches are most likely coming from.
If it were the ghost knife, you would most likely see the dead fish in it's mouth, and they usually try to catch/swallow their prey head first in one motion.
My money is on the lobster.
 
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