# Fish died from overfeeding??



## 4GBL (Sep 25, 2010)

How do you know if a fish died from overeating or "bloat"? Just lost a cichlid that showed no signs of being sick, the water parameters are perfect, the other fish are doing great, etc. I do feed the fish twice a day and it was one of the larger fish in the tank (easier to get to food being one of the larger fish). I came down one morning and the fish was floating on top of the water??


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Sorry for your loss.

By the time the fish is floating on top he has been dead a while...recent deaths drift on the bottom.

Did he eat the day he died? If yes he probably did not die of bloat. And I have never heard of a fish dying of overeating.

It is hard to diagnose after the death. You would depend on pre-death symptoms like his eating, feces and behavior. Like did he like to hang out under the surface or behind filter intakes or heaters?


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## swordgecko (Oct 13, 2010)

floating??? did it have a expaned stomach mabey??? i mean bloated stomach, and *** never heard of one just dieing then floating up normally thy would be on the bottom but i rlly would like to hear what ppl say!

Wish i could of helped but dont know much about what happened


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## 4GBL (Sep 25, 2010)

There was nothing unusual about the behavior of this fish at all. Eating great, etc. as usual. Like I mentioned, there was no sign that the fish was attacked by the other fish. It was definitely floating on top of the water. I actually did not see it at first until I started feeding the fish. The stomach MAY have bloated, I don't know. The mouth was open (maybe it looked a bit bloated because the fish filled with some water?). I'm puzzled?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Once they float up they are bloated just from soaking in the water.

With no symptoms all you can really do is watch for something to happen to another fish.

What I was trying to get to was since you feed 2X daily, you would have seen the fish eat within the last twelve hours, can you confirm?

A fish that dies of bloat will stop eating at least a day or two before death. They are also likely to be hiding (in the rocks possibly, but often under the surface or behind heaters or filter intakes).


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## 4GBL (Sep 25, 2010)

I have ~30 in the tank, however I did not notice anything unusual. It was one of the largest fish in the tank. I would have seen if was off on its own not eating, etc. It very likely had eaten within 12 hours prior to its death.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Sounds like a complete mystery then...all you can do is watch the tank closely.

Does not sound like bloat, but if it was it may be a month before you see any symptoms in other infected fish.

30 fish  Hope you have a really big tank or demasoni or both. :thumb:


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