[pinkspore]

I finally got my tank stabilized. I put my big fantail in, and then carefully quarantined a black moor and a red lionhead before adding them. They've all been getting along well, no nipped fins or bites. This morning everyone was fine and happy when I turned their light on. This evening I came home to discover my lionhead dead, his eyes and abdomen gone, and the fantail chowing down! I swear the lionhead was healthy earlier today.

My fantail previosly lived in the hospital tank and never bit any of my the sick fish he was with. Why would he kill and eat my lionhead?!

[Roni]

pinkspore, on Jun 20 2008, 10:06 PM, said:

I finally got my tank stabilized. I put my big fantail in, and then carefully quarantined a black moor and a red lionhead before adding them. They've all been getting along well, no nipped fins or bites. This morning everyone was fine and happy when I turned their light on. This evening I came home to discover my lionhead dead, his eyes and abdomen gone, and the fantail chowing down! I swear the lionhead was healthy earlier today.

My fantail previosly lived in the hospital tank and never bit any of my the sick fish he was with. Why would he kill and eat my lionhead?!

Possibly territorial. You didn't say whether the tank that was stabilized was a new tank or one the fantail lived in by hisself for any time. How long was the fantail by hisself before the others were added? How long did the new folks move in before this happened? If it used to be the fantail's only, He could be protecting his territory.
Do you know whether they were of breeding age? I heard that breeding frenzies can become quite violent.
I'm new to this area, so these are just some idea I thought of. Wait until yo hear from the more experienced people before doing anything. Good luck.

[chubbygold]

well is there anything else in the tank that can be harmful to your fish, goldfish can be aggressive but to the point of killing like that i have never heard of. Maybe your fantail is just eating stuff that is exposed when your lionhead, but for not for safty, i recoment buying a divider.

[Roni]

The main reason I mentioned about Territorial agression is that my Goldfish kills anything else I put in there. He's been alone so long, he doesn't tolerate any other fish in HIS tank. But he is also a Comet, not a fancy. That may have something to do with it.

[Chrissy_Bee]

Sorry to hear that. I had a similar situation recently http://www.kokosgold...mp;#entry777674

[Pixiefish]

How horrible! I'm sorry this happened.
Can you fill in the diagnosis form at the top? Copy and paste it into your next post. Hopefully we'll be able to figure out what went wrong.

[jlroar]

I have lost 2 Goldfish the same way. But in my case it was 2 different Ranchu's attacking 2 different Orandas and eating their wen off. It was suggested to me by the LFS that one being picked to death was injured and the Goldfish just couldn't help itself. I'm not sure if that is true or just because they didn't know why they do that sometimes.

Do fill out the form as Pixiefish asked to help rule out some things and give them a bigger picture of your tank.

Best wishes,
James

[pinkspore]

Ok, water tests come up Amm 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0, Ph 8.2, tap Ph 7.4. I use the API test kit with the drops.

55 gallon tank, has been running for several months now.
Have an Aquaclear 200 and an Aquaclear 300 running.
I do small water changes 2 or 3 times a week to try and keep the ph from getting too high.
I had 3 fish in the tank, a large fantail ~3", a small black moor ~1", and a small red lionhead ~1"
I use Amquel+ in the tank.
No other medications at this point, everyone has been healthy.
The little ones had been in there for a week and a half after a month-long quarantine.
The fish get Hikari sinking pellet food, green peas, and oranges.
Nothing unusual about the fish, fins look good, no marks.
No unusual behavior either. They were all just sort of swimming around nibbling algae.

Tha fantail had been with other small, sick fish before without killing or eating any of them. He was previosly housed with a common that nipped all his fins off. The lionhead had been happily nibbling algae a couple of hours before, and when I found him his eyes and organs had been eaten and the fantail was still munching. Even if the lionhead was sick, why was the fantail so peaceful with the others before?

[Pixiefish]

Well, this has me foxed! How much are you feeding them? It is not an issue of overcrowding and I am not sufficiently experienced with breeding to know if this is 'chasing' which has gone wrong. So, I will ask some of the other Mods who may have a better sense of things than I do.

Meanwhile,
Amm 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0, Ph 8.2, tap Ph 7.4. I use the API test kit with the drops.

I am wondering why there are no nitrates when the tank has been running for several months. Do you have any zeolite/ammo-chips in the filtration system? Also, do you have anything in the tank which is causing the rise in PH? Coral or anything alkaline? 8.2 is OK but I'm just curious about the rise from 7.4 to 8.2. A certain amount of carbon dioxide dissolved in source water will often evaporate once out of the tap, leaving the PH to rise a little - but I would not expect it to make quite the difference this swing is showing.

[pinkspore]

The peas and pellets I usually drop down a tube onto two plates on opposite sides of the tank. The oranges go on a clip towards the top of the tank.

The nitrates usually stay pretty low, and I do a lot of water changes. I may have messed up the test, but it usually reads very low anyhow.

No idea why my pH goes so high, but it appears to increase indefinitely. I think it was close to 9 when I was doing a fishless cycle. There was a thread in the water quality section a while back. We never did figure out what makes it go up, but I do small frequent water changes to get it down without shocking the fish. Here's the thread.

[Pixiefish]

OK - as a test (while we are waiting for one of the other mods to drop in) pour out a jug of tap water.
Test the PH immediately and leave the rest of the jug water standing. 12 hours later, test the PH again and make a third test after 24 hours. Tell us what the numbers were for all 3 tests. Just so we are sure, test your KH again, too.

I'm hoping one of the others will drop in with an opinion on what may have happened in your tank.

[pinkspore]

The big fantail chewed up my little black moor last night, so I took the moor out and have him in a hospital tank with some Melafix. Poor guy. I'm trying to figure out how to put a divider in my 55 gallon tank. The one I bought at the pet store hooks onto the frame of the tank, but my acrylic tank has no frame and the top is attached.