Lost two fish :(

[FreshyFresh]

Is it fairly common to loose a few when you introduce fairly large schools to a newly cycled tank?

I lost one little neon hours after introducing them to the tank. 1 out of 15. I noticed this fish not hanging with the school. Hours later it couldn't maintain it's equilibrium. I removed it as soon as I noticed this.

This morning I woke up to one dead emerald cory, laying upside down on the bottom of the tank. Scooped him out right away. 1 out of 6.

These were Petco purchases. I know... you get what you pay for! I bagged up the cory and will return him when I can.

My water parameters are 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrites and 5-10ppm nitrates. Water temp is 80degF. First thing I did this AM was test this.

Kind of a disappointing way to start.

Joel

 

[Thyra]

Find our when they get their fish in and try not to buy on that day or the day after - or maybe a few days later. That would avoid some of the stress syndrome. I can only get to town on Sat. usually and Petsmarts fish come in on Friday - its a zoo. It looks like they get removed from their shipping containers and dipped and eventually put in a tank, but it looks like it is a "catch as catch can" project. Petsmart has told me it would be better if I came during the middle of the week - but, of course, by then many of the popular fish are gone.

 

[FreshyFresh]

When I was in town and stopped into the Petco on Weds, they had quite a few neons in stock, so I assume they came in earlier in the week. When I purchased them on Friday (yesterday), there were about half of them left.

I did notice the emerald corydoras on earlier visits too. They had about a dozen total before I bought 6.

I hear you though. They probably don't quarantine their livestock at all. Right from box, to the tank to the customer.

 

[OrangeCones]

Did you drip acclimate the fish?

I recently (back mid-December) bought neon tetras from a mom-pop shop. It was 'buy 5, get 2 free' but they didn't count them very well as I ended up with 16 (should have been 14 total). I also ended up with a tiny-tiny female guppy as a "bonus". I drip acclimated them and had zero losses. And I got the fish within an hour of when the store had gotten them in. They were still in the process of releasing fish from bags in that row of aquariums when i bought them.

 

[FreshyFresh]

I did not drip acclimate.

I floated the bags for ~15min, then added small amounts of tank water over the course of about an hour. Then gently poured the bag contents through a net. Netted the fish, added them to the tank and discarded the bag water.

 

[SKSands]

I lost my guppies way back when. One of the 3 i got kept swimming away from the other 2 and my pleco(at the time). the next day, dead. not sure if that's a signal of pre-emminet death, or not, but then again, i wasn't at a full cycle yet, so that could've been a problem too.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Neons and some of the other little tetras can be fairly sensitive when you first get them I've found. Once they've settled into the tank, they tend to be pretty hardy though. Your water is good and you don't have anything in there that would have harmed him, so I'd attribute it to the neon not being up to the stress of moving.

Emerald cory is odder - but again with him being so new and knowing it is not a water problem, as long as the rest of the fish seem to be healthy and eating well I would suspect he was not well from the store.

That acclimation is fine, it is basically an in-between form of drip acclimation - it is actually exactly what I do when acclimating, even my SW critters.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Death toll at this point is 3 neons and 2 corys.

Found another neon this AM not hanging with the school and it's color was off. An hour or so later it was suffering from loss of equilibrium. I netted him out and bagged him. There's another neon missing that I cannot locate. So far I'm down to 12 from 15.

Early this evening I found the partially consumed body of an emerald cory hanging in a plant. I have not noticed more than 4 of them the past day or two. Pretty much explains why.

Water params haven't changed from 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrites and ~5ppm nitrates. Water temp steady at 78degF.

Not having good luck with big-box store fish. That's 4-5 deaths in 4 days. I'm going to return the carnage along with a water sample tomorrow. Hopefully for a cash refund. See how that goes.

 

[FishDad]

This may be taboo but I always buy the cheap, more fragile fish from the big box because of the return policies. I bought some neons a few months back from a lfs and when a couple died in a few hours I immediatly went back to exchange. The guy in so many words told me to piss off because he doesn't guarantee his fish due to customer's water quality issues. I spent like 60 bucks along with the neons. So over what would have been pennies for that guy he lost my business. I was going to buy discus off of him too. But I digress...

 

[FreshyFresh]

Yeah, I bet my LFS would be the same way FishDad. The only fish I've bought from them so far were the 5 blood-fins and (knock on wood) they are healthy, good looking suckers. I moved them from the 10gal to the 29. They are super happy in there hanging with the remaining neons and look much better in my 29. Some of the remaining neons are tiny little things. Some are probably too young, thus the $1/ea. I plan to head to Petco with the body bag today..

 

[Thyra]

The Petsmart I deal with has a 14 day policy - the cashier reminds you every time - and the only question they as is do you want credit or another fish.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Yep, the return & refund was no problem.

Nice young fella in the fish dept. Big'ol hoola-hoops in his ears (not that that's a bad thing)

He did question me on how long the tank has been setup and what was in it.

His opinion was 15 neons and 6 corys was too much for a 29. "Oxygen levels too low". I've got a HOB, large corner floss and sponge bubbler filter and an air stone in the tank.

He did use dip-sticks to test my zip-lock of tank water. Two strips. I assume ammonia and nitrites. He agreed they were fine.

 

[OrangeCones]

His opinion was 15 neons and 6 corys was too much for a 29. "Oxygen levels too low". I've got a HOB, large corner floss and sponge bubbler filter and an air stone in the tank.

I would disagree with your fish dept fella's statement above. Even Aqadvisor.com (which is very conservative) says you are less than 80% stocked.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Thanks OC.

I figure I'll be down to 8-10 neons before long , hopefully no less than 4 corys, 5 blood-fins and I just picked up a gorgeous young Pearl Gourami from my local fish store. That's it for the stocking of the 29. I LOVE it. The bloodfins and neons look perfect together and the new pearl is real happy. Did a real slow in-bag acclimation of him.

 

[FreshyFresh]

These neons are going to be the death of me.

Late this afternoon I noticed neon #5 of the 15 (I once had) doing the death spiral I'm so familiar with. Upon further investigation, I see tiny white spots on about half of the neons. !@##$%%^!! Great. Welcome back to the hobby with a nice case of ich. Unfortunately neon 5 was porcelain expressed.

I did some quick reading and picked up a box of API Super Ich Cure (powder packets).

I treated per the instructions and half-dosed due to my corys & snail.

None of the other fish in the 29 show signs of ich. Lord I pray it stays that way.

Whadda bummer.