Noob question but can degassing stall fermentation?

I'm currently in the process of brewing a 4.5 gallon batch of Strawberry and banana mead. I'm using the same recipe and yeast I used in previous batches but with this one I tried degassing and when I took a sample reading it was only measuring out at 1.8% when my other batches were between 6-8% around the same time. Can degassing stall fermentation or have I somehow botched it? Any help would be appreciated. via /r/mead https://ift.tt/2OCcgH4