# Came home to a stingray death :(



## MEDHBSI (Sep 4, 2011)

So I got home today from being in Calgary since friday to find one of my female rays dead and my male on the verge of death (curling) My discus seems fine and so does my tiger fish. So I'm wondering 2 things has something happened to my water source recently? or are my new drip system filters i bought defective. Either way im very upset about it and to boot i brought home my new addition pure snow leopard stingray pup and now im really afraid to put him in the water.

- All water parameters are great nitrite,nitrate,ammonia,tds is normal, not sure about copper maybe?
-I'm doing a 40% water change right now and I've stopped the drip and am going to do manual water changes with lots of prime

Tomorrow I will be heading to the store to buy a big ol bag of carbon just in case.

I'll make some posts about the snow leopard ray in a few days seeing as how you guys might want to see some pics of him and the parents, but for now ill do a sneak peak of one of the parents


----------



## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

Oh wow, they're gorgeous! Your pup will be brilliant I bet...

I know copper can be lethal for some species, but I'm absolutely clueless when it comes to rays.

As far as the death, I'm sorry that you found that happen, that really sucks, but try to contact Charles, he's an expert when it comes to this sort of dilemma, (if he doesn't see this post). I don't have any advice other than that man, sorry for your loss.


----------



## MEDHBSI (Sep 4, 2011)

It looks There gills area really really red. I've got tons of air in the sump and display as well.


----------



## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

Perhaps is food specific? If you are feeding another set of food for your rays, the food might be the problem. If everyone is eating the same food, then you can almost certain it is not the food.

Perhaps is the ph. A crashed ph specificly when you have a dead fish, will cause your ph to crashed. Discus can handle very low ph. So if you have a sick ray, it died, and it is then affecting the second one.

If the discus are newly added, have they gone through deworming?
If the tiger is newly added, have they gone through deworming?

I assume you have those 2 rays longer, and bigger than the rest of the fish. I know we talked about TDS. Having too low of TDS is not very good for your fish in my opinion. It is like fish drowning in water. 

I don't think it is your drip. As long as your drip has stable in and out of water, and you are not having chambers where you put addictives malfunction, there is not much can go wrong.

I am sorry for your lost. I hope whatever in my opinion can point you to a conclusion.


----------



## MEDHBSI (Sep 4, 2011)

-My ph monitor says its the same as usual but since i wasn't home i cannot be certain.
-The Discus have been there for a long time
-They all eat the same food
-The tiger i got last year

They were acting funny the friday i was leaving so i was really worried all weekend and i guess for good reason. I bought the new drip filters off ebay and I'm suspecting they might be the culprit. I will be buying a copper test tomorrow and some carbon to put in a mesh bag just in case anything is in the water that shouldn't be.

* I'm also buying a 55g food grade drum and i will be doing manual changes with aged water until these rays are not pups anymore.


----------



## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

Do think about the TDS. Alberta has more successful cases of breeding just about every fish than BC. I think partly because the water source is so full of mineral. They don't have to worry about the low TDS reading like our water.


----------



## Vancitycam (Oct 23, 2012)

Sorry to hear, I know the time and care you take with your aquariums.


----------



## MEDHBSI (Sep 4, 2011)

The tank sits around 20ppm and yes Calgary def has some mineral filled water the snow leopards water is 165 TDS



charles said:


> Do think about the TDS. Alberta has more successful cases of breeding just about every fish than BC. I think partly because the water source is so full of mineral. They don't have to worry about the low TDS reading like our water.


----------



## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

I am at 70-100 and i am consider low. 20ppm is very low. it wont kill fish right away but it is a slow process. In my opinion, perhaps you can put some minerals in your water to counter the low tds.


----------



## MEDHBSI (Sep 4, 2011)

charles said:


> I am at 70-100 and i am consider low. 20ppm is very low. it wont kill fish right away but it is a slow process. In my opinion, perhaps you can put some minerals in your water to counter the low tds.


I would have to because my tap water is around 5ppm. So what kind of additives do you suggest?


----------



## mrbob (Aug 9, 2012)

So sorry to hear that Jason really sucks to lose fish especially a Ray if you want a couple of my pups Ill give you a special deal!! nice new ray you got there! get a opposite sex one from me and breed them? I would love a pup! how do I get one of those Snow Leopard Rays!


----------



## MEDHBSI (Sep 4, 2011)

mrbob said:


> So sorry to hear that Jason really sucks to lose fish especially a Ray if you want a couple of my pups Ill give you a special deal!! nice new ray you got there! get a opposite sex one from me and breed them? I would love a pup! how do I get one of those Snow Leopard Rays!


I've got a female ray coming she's just on back order haha I'f your actually serious about getting some snow leopard rays i can give you my buddies contact info if you pm me. There a bit pricey but very worth it.

*snow leopard rays are very very rare he's got the only breeding group in&#8230; well in anywhere lol


----------



## smccleme (Aug 20, 2012)

I made the mistake of using 10 feet of 1/4 copper line, and a brass float valve when I first installed my drip system. I thought since the water was never stagnant it would be ok. I killed dozens of fish before I clued in to the metal being the cause. I used a copper test from J&L to verify I had copper in the water. I don't recall the exact measurement of copper - it wasn't extremely high, but it was enough to slowly kill the cichlids over time. I've switched everything over to plastic/pvc and haven't had any further problems.


----------



## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

there are Kh and gh puffer you can buy from the store. They are pretty good to buffer your water.


----------



## MEDHBSI (Sep 4, 2011)

My kh and GH are 1 drop to change color (0-50ppm)


----------



## MEDHBSI (Sep 4, 2011)

smccleme said:


> I made the mistake of using 10 feet of 1/4 copper line, and a brass float valve when I first installed my drip system. I thought since the water was never stagnant it would be ok. I killed dozens of fish before I clued in to the metal being the cause. I used a copper test from J&L to verify I had copper in the water. I don't recall the exact measurement of copper - it wasn't extremely high, but it was enough to slowly kill the cichlids over time. I've switched everything over to plastic/pvc and haven't had any further problems.


That was my first thought so i bought a copper test kit  0ppm, I've tested my water for basically everything (I have a suit case of tests) and My guess is there was something in the water that came through my drip.


----------

