How often do you lose fish?

[fishychick]

I had two panda corys die yesterday. It really bothers me when my fish die and I feel like I've lost a fair number in the short time I've had aquariums. So I was just wondering, in general, how often to you lose fish? Is it common for one to mysteriously die, say...every 6 months? Do you hardly every lose any fish and keep the same ones for years? Just wondering what other people's experience has been as I'm feeling a bit defeated. Thanks for listening to me whine.

 

[Fishanatic]

I lost my clown knife to my oscar and my gar jumped out while i was feeding forgot to close the lid. Ive never really had mysterious deaths though.

55 Gallon- Empty
125 Gallon- CKF and Tiger Oscar
220 Gallon- To come...

 

[mikem691]

In 3 years the only fish I lost was a Thorichthys pasionis that was sick when I got him.

 

[44Paps44]

Better to spend the energy to see why you are losing fish. Losses as you're learning the hobby are to be expected but a continuous pattern shouldn't be the norm.

 

[Angela1108]

What were the other fish? I think it partially depends on the type of fish. Not all fish have the same life expectancy.

I lose guppies occasionally but they have a shorter life span than most other fish- and the rate females pop out babies it makes sense. My community tank we only lost 1 black skirt tetra and a cardinal tetra but they were like 6 years old each


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Rpeinhardt]

Yeah, I lose two or three a year for various reasons. Sometimes it's my fault, sometimes it's just dumb luck. I lost 2 different fish in separate tanks to tumors last year, one in the early spring and one late in the fall.

 

[philipraposo198]

3 sae's that jumped out of the tank in the past 7 months. I won't be keeping sae's again, too often I read about then jumping out.

Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Brookster123]

I've lost a few jumpers, havnt lost any established fish to illness in a while.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[fishychick]

Better to spend the energy to see why you are losing fish. Losses as you're learning the hobby are to be expected but a continuous pattern shouldn't be the norm.

I think that's what's bothering me...unfortunately I lost a handful of fish in the last year as I was learning. I'm pretty sure I've killed a few fish as a result of knowing nothing about cycling a tank. But, although I know I have TONS to learn, I thought I was at least to the point where I knew enough to keep the casualty numbers pretty low. So having these two panda's die was unexpected and disheartening.

 

[brennae]

One of my pygmy corys died yesterday. I've only had them less than 2 months. Who knows how old they were when I got them? They came from a swap. One died the day after I brought them home. Could have been some one else's culls I guess. I change my water around every 4 to 5 days in that tank because I over feed. I get worried I will starve my killifish fry. Lol. Seriously though it always sucks to lose a fish or any pet for that matter. I'm sorry.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[fishychick]

One of my pygmy corys died yesterday. I've only had them less than 2 months. Who knows how old they were when I got them? They came from a swap. One died the day after I brought them home. Could have been some one else's culls I guess. I change my water around every 4 to 5 days in that tank because I over feed. I get worried I will starve my killifish fry. Lol. Seriously though it always sucks to lose a fish or any pet for that matter. I'm sorry.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

Thanks. Sorry about your pygmy. One panda I had for about 6 months. I knew he was stressed out because of not ideal conditions, but I was working to improve them. I moved him to a new tank and I was hoping it would help, but he must have been too stressed for too long. The other one I had just put in a day or two ago. All the others are fine. Stinks. But thanks for the comment.

 

[Coursair]

I rarely lose fish. When I do, I typically know the cause. Mine usually live for years. My last losses were my neglect of the tank, due to my illness, injuries, surgery. I'm just thankful so many survived due to my live plants.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[ScaryFatKidGT]

Other than my Glass cat and hillstreams which died within 2 weeks of me getting them the only fish I have had die was 1 rainbow that got a parasite and wouldnt eat

 

[TeresaD]

I lost quite a few this year - an angel and a few small guppies that were being bullied to death by another angel (she has been rehomed) A betta that went within a few days of getting it and countless neon tetras - no idea why but for some reason neons just all get sick and die - not going to have any more. I lost a stressed out pregnant guppy a couple of weeks ago when she jumped out of the breeder box I put her in. Didn't notice at the time and when my other half went to check on her he stood on her well and truly dead! But on the bright side I have managed to breed pearl gouramis (kept 2) and 30 guppies

 

[enrgizerbunny]

I lost 8 tiger barbs to my rainbow shark literally stressing the school to death. And I had to euthanize a tiger barb for a word looking injury that I believe was infected. He was missing muscle tissue.

Since then I've lost 3 goldfish, 2 weren't looking so good to begin with and the third is a mystery.

Those are my losses for the year, but once I replaced the goldies I haven't had any losses for about 9 months.

Sent from my SCH-I435 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Caliban07]

I think it's fairly reasonable to say that everyone loses fish when they are a beginner. There will come a point when the tank will balance out and you will have a happy healthy tank.

There are lots of reasons fish die but a continuous pattern does need to be addressed.

Maybe you could give us some further details on your tank since you now have all our attention?

I also found Corey's difficult to keep. What I don't like about them is you can't tell whether or not they are getting enough food with a tank full of top feeders. In future I will keep Corey's in a species only or bottom feeder only tank.

I think the last fish I lost was harlequin rasbora which took me by surprise. That actually was an unexplained death but did follow a large water change.

Definitely don't give up.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[ImACoolguy]

I actually haven't lost many. I lost my very first fish(Black Moor Goldfish) to "ick" but I knew close to nothing about fish keeping then. Lost 3 regular goldfish, 2 due to jumping (brothers tank he is too cheap to buy a lid), and one died the day after I got him. Lost 1 albino Cory due to stress (didn't know they were schooling at the time and my loach pushed him around). Lost 1 angel and 2 pictus cats, this was due to my lack of knowledge about the cycling process at the time.

That's a timeline from first fish lost to last in 6 months of being in the hobby. All the deaths being in different tanks. But overall I still have 27 happy and healthy fish in 4 different tanks. I have learned to reflect on the deaths and learn from them as a lesson so they don't happen again.


Caleb

Might have a slight obsession with my fish

 

[meliboouk]

My first fish I got nearly 7years ago my goldfish(which was a feeder goldfish, I had to rescue him from being eaten, I can't see that happening) has been with 2 other goldfish(at different times) and they both died he is still going with my Blackmoor I've had for 6ish years.... Only other fish I had die was my rhino pleco and there was nothing wrong with him, he was only 5 years old,

In my opinion it never gets easier not if like me you see fish as more then a animal, but you have to think, you've given them a better life then a lot of people would, it's even harder to no the cause if brought from a pet shop as you don't no the age, and if like my lfs there's always loads of ill ones in the tanks you are more then likely to get a fish that is already ill,

Good luck anyway I no how stressful it can be when you can't work out what's going on....don't give up you'll get better as you learn, fish keeping is a thing no one is perfect on there's always things to learn?


Sent from fish phone

 

[Caliban07]

Fish keeping is a thing no one is perfect at and there's always more to learn?


Sent from fish phone

+ 1


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[fishychick]

Maybe you could give us some further details on your tank since you now have all our attention?
Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

As a total newbie I lost 2 guppies when I put them in a 5 gallon tank with my betta, per the lfs guy saying it would fine.

So, I got a 10 gallon, had NO idea about cycling a tank and lost probably 3 other guppies and a panda in the process of doing an fish in cycle that I didn't even know I was doing.

I lost one peppered cory mysteriously but I think he wasn't the healthiest fish because he had a crooked tail (which I found endearing).

So, I ended up with a 10 gallon with 4 guppies, an albino cory, a bronze cory, a panda cory and an otto. Once it was cycled and for the last couple months, the tank was doing pretty good. Everyone seemed ok and water parameters were under control (mostly thanks to you folks helping me)

Then I learned (also from you folks) that corys should be in shoals and prefer sand substrate. So, I made a plan to divide my 10 gallon into 2, 20 gallons and make things right. I did my first fish less cycle. After following the guide on this forum, I moved my guppies and panda into the new tank, got 5 new pandas and 2 new guppies. That's when I lost the 2 pandas, one was the one I had in my 10 gallon, and one from then new guys. Tank had been up for about 5 weeks, ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 10. Was planning a water change the next day but they died before I had the chance.

Sorry for the super long post. But that's my history of fish loss. And where I'm at now.