# Dying of old age, what are the symptoms?



## milkmaid (Sep 16, 2009)

What are the signs and symptoms of a cichlid dying of old age?

I ask this question because of these two large 10 year old and ancient Red Parrots that I have rescued (and have been posting all over this forum about!). Well, any website I have gone to says they live to 10 years old...so if they die relatively soon after I get them, it won't look good will it! These look wonderful however and seem to want to spawn so no problems now.

But what are the signs of a fish dying of old age?


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

I believe the concept of "dying of old age" is a very outdated myth... for anything...

In the olden days, people used to die of "old age" all the time. Now a days people live a good bit longer (on average) but do not die of old age. The difference is medical technology has advanced and we better understand what people are actually dying of.

So I do not think it would be accurate to say your fish may "die of old age", it is logical that as they get older they will be prone to kidney failure, heart failure, etc, etc... I think each potential cause of death would have slightly different symptoms...

Although a loss of color, loss of appetite, loss of energy... would all be common signs of an ill fish...


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## milkmaid (Sep 16, 2009)

Yes, I hear you, I'm a registered nurse and what you say makes great sense. I just wondered if there was some great mystery to these fish when they were fixing to reach that final great big cycled tank in the sky.


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## dogofwar (Apr 5, 2004)

In my experience, they start getting hump-backed, thin and ragged. They don't heal up or eat like they used to. Kind of degenerative over time.

A decade is a pretty good life for a cichlid... although they can live longer.

And I kept a 10 year old Syn. multipunctatus cat for about 7 or 8 years... before giving him to another aquarist when I went away for school.

Matt


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