angler fish mystery death

[drukkosz]

Hello,

Sad news, after few months I woke up to see my angler fish dead. Truly crashed my soul. Looks like her belly is full of water. I do not know what has happened.
She was eating live guppies and ghost shrimp, one sometimes two (small ones) every 3-4 days. I also have a scorpion and red wasp fish in same tank and they are doing well.

@lion king any suggestion what caused her death? I have noticed few days prior she was swimming all over the tank which is pretty unusual for her. Kind of like she was catching and swallowing water....

I have experience with predatory fish, also have fu manchu (3 years) , zabra and fuzzy lion in my large predatory tank.

 

[lion king]

Anglers are a mystery, very challenging and confusing to care for.

Does look bloated, this usually occurs from swallowing air or digestive gases building up. Once adult a warty would do best being fed once a week or even as long as 10 days, that does seem to help. They do best to fed very well on feeding days, I've had warty's put down more than a half dozen ghosties at a sitting. Higher mg also helps in digestion, in fowlrs many forget to monitor mg, I keep mine at 1400. Just guessing, maybe stung by or frightening by one of the scorps and jetted to the surface and gulped air. The over activity could have been them trying to expel the air. Hate to break it to you, but it is very common that just out of the blue these guys die, there are many nuances to their care, and it is still a mystery.

The digestive bloat seems to build over over days where the gulping of air can happen quickly.

 

[drukkosz]

Thank you for your reply, I dont think its air related because the belly was full of water. I put him in the 4 oz cup after his death and all the water released from his belly to the cup shortly after and then he looked normal.

 

[lion king]

Thank you for your reply, I dont think its air related because the belly was full of water. I put him in the 4 oz cup after his death and all the water released from his belly to the cup shortly after and then he looked normal.

They actually move water through their mouth and expel through those jet packs under the arm pits, this is how they move through the water. It's always deceiving after death, the cavity wouldn't still have air trapped, because after death the mechanism keeping it blocked would have released. The cavity filling with water after death could be what happened. There could have been some sort of internal event that we would never understand. Are you up to a dissection, maybe you could see some obvious damage. I've done this many times with lions, it's how I've seen the very common liver damage that many lions have in common after a premature death. You may find some organ damage or even rotted food in the gut.

 

[lion king]

Can you see any signs of a sting

 

[drukkosz]

Thank you again. I can do some more research about the dissection but would not know what to look for to be honest.

I have not seen any signs of a sting. Really appreciate your help. I have been reading your posts for a long time.

 

[lion king]

Is there a history of any treatment, tank cleaners or any chemical exposure. As I stated before, anglers are just notorious for mysteriously dying.

How big was he, did you notice growth over the time you had them. While over feeding is tge biggest issue, they can suffer from under feeding. Another reason these guys are difficult, there's a fine line between under feeding and over feeding.

 

[drukkosz]

My apology, I missed your reply. No I have not use any treatments. I actually set up completely new tank for him and his two other friends. New tank but water, rock etc was taken from my mature tank.

I think he did grew a little, I would say he was about 2 in. I usually feed him every 3-4 days. I did put an extra guppy of ghost shrimp in the tank to see if he was hungry once in while but after few minutes of watching him not being interested I removed it.

Thank you again for your time and help.