Why Did Stingray Die?

[whatthreef]

I bought a stingray 2 weeks ago and he has been eating drinking and swimming fine since I had him. I have a 60 gal tank (48" wide) and he was about 3 - 4 inches including tail. everyday he would eat from my hand fine and got along with all the fish in the tank. about 5 days ago he got sucked up into the inlet of the power head and when I noticed I immediately unplugged the system and he fell out. His head was a little swollen but after an hour he was back to normal and the swelling went down just leaving him a scar of a ring on his head. Since then he has been fine eating etc. and I came home and he was dead on the sand bed...

Could he have maybe got an infection from his accident that had killed him?

Got ick?

Water to warm for him?

Any other possibilities?

Info on the tank:
size: 60 gal (48" wide)
bed: soft fine sand with a lot of open area
ph: 8.3
kh: 12
calcium: 430
nitrate: 0
nitrite: 0
ammonia: 0
salinity: .026
temp: 80-81 F
filtration: sump w/ asm g1

 

[mysticeel]

My guess is that he probably had internal injuries from the experience.

 

[Gboy66]

Poor guy.. Was he expensive? Same happened to me and an eel for fw though. He was small and went right into the pwr head..died instantly though...sorry about your little dude. And i agree, on the head? That could cause some injury. Do you know how long hed been there?

 

[melosu58]

I know this is not what you want to hear but they need somewhere between a 250-500 gallon tank. Liveaquaria says they are for experts only. They also verify the minimum size of the tank. You had yours in a 60 gallon tank. Your ray experience health problems due to a small and too confining enviornment. Not trying to be ugly just dont want to see that happen again.

 

[crister13]

I agree with the above. LR does state them as expert only and 150g (I think this is too small) for a blue spotted stingray. Cortez rays are better for smaller tanks but you will have to triple your tank size most likely for one. Good luck!

 

[whatthreef]

I know many people say that you need 200 + tank but that is not 100% correct. stingrays that are small can live in a 4 foot wide soft sand tank for at least a year and I plan on buying a 140 gal in about 7 months for the ray once he is bigger. I found out that these powerheads were found defective and many others had lost fish because the company left the whole bottom open and accidently didnt package the bubble screen that should of been in place. I believe mysticeel and gboy are correct about about him suffering trama from the accident which lead to infection later that week. I plan to get another one over the weekend (the old powerhead is in the trash) and I will post pictures of the new one in the tank

 

[crister13]

I wouldn't put one in a 140. I have a 150 and wouldn't put one in it. A 4 foot tank is absolutely not enough and melosu knows what he's doing believe me.

 

[jsmith]

This forum was established for help... and advice .. take the advice that's given and never place a fish into a small setup when it requires something so much larger.. good luck to you and your fishes..