# Has anyone ever seen a fish have convulsions and then die?



## azador (Jan 27, 2011)

My Kyoga flameback had not been eating for about three days. I had had him for about 4 months. He had always been reclusive, but came out to eat consistently. He never showed any signs of illness. He doubled in size in the time I had him, so he seemed healthy. A couple days ago I checked on him to see if he was coming out to eat and he was laying at the bottom of the tank, taking gasping breaths and convulsing slightly. His entire body was shivering. I immediately put him in a breeders net so the other fish would not start to nibble on him. He hung on for about another hour then had an enormous convulsion, almost like a grand mal siezure and died. He was not eaten on in any way and neither I nor my husband had noticed any other fish harrassing him. Has anyone ever seen this behavior before? Oh, and all of our water samples came out good, no other fish have been affected.


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## Nina_b (Jan 3, 2011)

size/contents of tank?
Also, post exact water parameters.
I hope someone can help soon. Poor fishy.


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## triscuit (May 6, 2005)

So sorry, 

But yes- we hear about this type of death pretty regularly. Fish can have organ failures (think heart attack or stroke), but we can't diagnose them very easily.

When I have a strange or unexplained death, there's a list of things I start to check.

1. pH, GH, KH- make sure my water is where I think it is (pH 8.2 and well buffered)
2. Nitrate, ammonia, and nitrite- (less than 20, 0, 0, respectively)
3. Inspect the equipment- are the filters reasonably clean, is the heater undamaged?
4. Check other tank mates for signs of disease, lethargy, eating/pooping normally

After those things, I do a large water change (50-75%). When all else fails- do a water change.


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## M&amp;S (Feb 16, 2011)

I lost a silver shark like this, we put it down to a seizure, the water was good, the rest of teh fish fine, and my electrics all ok, so we left the tank alone. Glad to say there were no other casualties or problems.

I don't see the need to do a massive water change just because one fish has died of "natural" causes.


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## triscuit (May 6, 2005)

I always see a need to do large water changes. :wink:

We keep fish in densely packed small boxes and feed them way more than they'd ever get in the wild. Our tanks are filthy and polluted compared to the fish's natural waters; clean water will always be beneficial to fish health.


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## azador (Jan 27, 2011)

Thank you for all the input. I think it probably was a natural cause. He was just reaching adulthood, so it would be a time for something like this to show up. We have a master test kit and all of the tests; PH, Nitrite, Nitrate, and Ammonia were the correct levels. We did do a 25% water change, but we do this once a week anyways. We did buy a UV sanitizer after the strange death, the water stays crystal clear now. No more algae blooms and it kills all single celled organisims, such as ick.

55gal with 16 African cichlids (a variety of species), and one asian algae eater


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

There are many things in the water that we do not measure and one of these could kill a fish. A water change can only help.

I'd be more likely to think it was an unsolved mystery than to think there was just something wrong with the fish. If something else happens in the future, this might be a puzzle piece.


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## constructiondonerite (9 d ago)

azador said:


> My Kyoga flameback had not been eating for about three days. I had had him for about 4 months. He had always been reclusive, but came out to eat consistently. He never showed any signs of illness. He doubled in size in the time I had him, so he seemed healthy. A couple days ago I checked on him to see if he was coming out to eat and he was laying at the bottom of the tank, taking gasping breaths and convulsing slightly. His entire body was shivering. I immediately put him in a breeders net so the other fish would not start to nibble on him. He hung on for about another hour then had an enormous convulsion, almost like a grand mal siezure and died. He was not eaten on in any way and neither I nor my husband had noticed any other fish harrassing him. Has anyone ever seen this behavior before? Oh, and all of our water samples came out good, no other fish have been affected.


 My cobalt blue male just had a heart attack and did exactly what you said jumped from one end to the other I had this one for about 2 years plus he was in slow motion just now nothing fazed him then all of a sudden it happened dropped to the bottom I shielded him from the other fish and nothing totally shut down his brother was trying to get him to go upright but nothing. RIP my little friend


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## Pjdtwfsh (3 mo ago)

azador said:


> My Kyoga flameback had not been eating for about three days. I had had him for about 4 months. He had always been reclusive, but came out to eat consistently. He never showed any signs of illness. He doubled in size in the time I had him, so he seemed healthy. A couple days ago I checked on him to see if he was coming out to eat and he was laying at the bottom of the tank, taking gasping breaths and convulsing slightly. His entire body was shivering. I immediately put him in a breeders net so the other fish would not start to nibble on him. He hung on for about another hour then had an enormous convulsion, almost like a grand mal siezure and died. He was not eaten on in any way and neither I nor my husband had noticed any other fish harrassing him. Has anyone ever seen this behavior before? Oh, and all of our water samples came out good, no other fish have been affected.


During summer time, I feed my betta live fresh insects, usually small caterpillar sections. They are carnivores. I mistakedly fed too large a piece, the fish swallowed it and immediately appeared to be in distress. It was too large for him to spit out and he died quite suddenly, within the hour. He was otherwise healthy. Could your fish have swallowed something, food item, gravel stone? It's less common for our hobby fish to die suddenly. Usual parasites, fungus, etc, progression over time.


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