Dead Discus...

[MCF]

I have a 55gallon long tank with five (used to be six) 3-4" discus, a dozen red cardinals, a dozen white clouds, 10 little catfish and a bushy nose....about a week ago I noticed the second from the smallest discus was not eating very much....then a couple days later i come home to see it sitting in of the the fake plants like it was trapped and barely moving. I freed it and it sank to the bottom partially on it's side but still breathing...then eventually completely on it's side at the bottom at which time my wife announced..."Pigpen is dead"....it was still breathing so I did an emergency water change and the next day pigpen seemed fine..yippee!!! Next day...Pigpen DEAD!! Water conditions are fine and other fish seem to be fine...any thoughts? Should I take Pigpen out now..j/k, already disposed of......bad joke.

[Merrilyn]

Sorry to hear of your loss MCF.

Sometimes we just don't know what causes the death of our fish. It could be parasites, tumours, shock or any one of a hundred other reasons.

All we can do is give them the best possible conditions and carefully watch for any strange symptoms which might lead to a known disease.

Your other fish are healthy, so it sounds like your tank conditions are fine. I'm inclined to think this was just an unfortunate one off instance.

Can you post your tank parameters, pH, ammonia, nitrate nitrate etc. Sometimes this can show up a bit of a problem.