old age or something dodgy?

[NoWittyName]

Just that really. How do you know whether a fish has died from old age or something dodgy?

[Grumpla]

What kind of fish? How old was it?

[NoWittyName]

Penguin tetra. Don't really know its age as it was pretty mature when I got it. Others seem happy enough!

[Grumpla]

2-5 years then apparently.

Is everything else ok? I usually do a water test after any fish death just to make sure there isn't a problem with the levels. Even if the unfortunate was only dead in there for a short while they start to decay and foul up the water pretty quick.

I don't think you can reach a definitive conclusion as to whether it was old age or not (unless you have a yen for carrying out teeny weeny autopsies) but you can certainly rule out a lot of other factors eg illness, water quality, predation, overfeeding etc.

[NoWittyName]

Thanks - will keep a close eye on everything.

x

[EauRouge]

2-5 years? No, I would expect a bit more from a tetra. I'd say 5 years+. It depends how old it was when you got it, and also how well it was cared for. If it was kept in awful conditions before then that may have shortened its lifespan, even though they're being well looked after now.

[NoWittyName]

I guess that's the thing. You can't cut through them and count the rings!! I assume that if all else is fine then I don't need to worry that there's some dodgy bacteria/virus/fungus hanging around that's going to kill off the rest of my little wrigglers.