Lost a Ramirez

[Sundance]

Hi,
I just lost the lone Ramirez in the 55 gallon. He's been thriving, but today I noticed him resting on a plant and "breathing" rapidly. The other fish seemed to be breathing normally. My water tested normal - ph7.2 Am,Ni 0 Na 10

Later I saw him tail touching bottom, head facing up, still breathing hard. The Angel and Gourami came over and kind of lightly pecked him on the mouth and then left him alone.

I decided to check on him after lights out, and he had passed. His body didn't show any sign of disease, no cuts. He was darker than I'd ever seen him, but he was dead.

The only thing different in an otherwise (and thankfully) stable tank was that I fed frozen blood worms and dried freshwater shrimp that I had presoaked.

Could he have choked? The tank is understocked, so I doubt stress.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

[sskruzr]

When I was raising Bolivian rams, I found that after I fed freeze-dried tubifex, I'd lose a few rams. I never saw the correlation until I read a post on ANUBIASDESIGN where they said it's possible for a fish to eat something freeze-dried, then have it expand ni their bellies to where it killed them. So I don't feed freeze dried any more. Just an FYI

[Sundance]

That's good to know kruzr. I have tossed the dried shrimp.

Thanks,

[pinkrblu]

Sorry to hear about your loss. They are one of my favorite fish and I hate to lose them.