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TAMPA, Fla – ZooTampa says a technical issue with the tank may have resulted in the sudden deaths of 12 stingrays last month, and they will rebuild all of the habitat to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
On May 27, staff at the Stingray Bay Zoo Touch Tank called vets because the rays in the tank “didn’t look right.” The vets who responded realized the stingrays were dead, but the cause of their death was not immediately obvious.
Zoo officials have considered everything from a water quality problem to disease and even criminal act. Eventually, they sent water and tissue samples to experts in Germany for analysis.
On Tuesday, the zoo said it believed the deaths were the result of a “supersaturation event” the night before. This is when there is too much oxygen in the water, leading to gas emboli – gas bubble disease – in the spokes.
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The zoo explained in a statement that gas bubble disease is a fatal disease similar to “curvature” in human divers, which is caused by bubbles in the bloodstream.
The supersaturation event was not immediately detected as oxygen levels had returned to normal by the time the water was tested in the morning, following a standard water change.
The cause of the oversaturation, however, is still unclear. Possible causes include a malfunction in the water system or a crack in the pipe that was not detected during daily inspections.
To avoid a duplication, the zoo will destroy the existing 16,000 gallon habitat and support systems.
“The ZooTampa has decided not to reopen Stingray Bay,” the zoo statement said. “Instead, it will build an updated habitat, with a new water management system that will include redundancies, safeguards and updated procedures.”
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