Loss of tetras

[radamsk1]

I recently purchased 4 new cardinal tetras along with a Discus. All were doing well until the next day. After every night, I noticed one cardinal was dead. I also had some previous cardinals, nothing happened to them, but all the new cardinals died. Oddly enough, now one of my penguinfish tetras just died. None appeared to be attacked so I am suspected some sort of sickness, as this is not affecting the new fish, although the one penguin could be unrelated as he was stuck to the filter intake. I noticed no odd or sick behaviors from the fish, they just were dead with no signs... water temp is 80, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and very low nitrates (planted tank). Any info would be appreciated. I also suspect the LFS could have had a contaminated stock and the penguin was just unlucky, none of my other fish appear with any signs of sickness.

 

[radamsk1]

Another loss

Now another penguinfish tetra has died. Just found dead in my tank. A notice a fish missing, and eventually i see it dead in the tank somewhere. Unsure what this is, but fearing it was some disease brought in with the cardinals. Although the discus appears fine at this point.

 

[FroggyFox]

Why dont you give us some more information about your tank? Size of the tank and all of the inhabitants?
What temperature do you keep the tank at? How long has it been set up?
If you have water test kits what are the ammonia, nitrite and nitrite levels?

A lot of times when you get new fish they are sick or if the store you got them from has different water conditions than yours (like the pH) you need to pay special attention to making sure that you take enough time to acclimate them to your tank. Stress from transportation and new tankmates, new water conditions etc lead can make your fish weak and susceptible to lots of things.

 

[radamsk1]

Ok, well I mentioned previously about the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels. All but the nitrate are zero, with the nitrates low. The tank is a 46g bowfront. It mainly houses 10 tetras, 1 angelfish (2 previously), discus, pleco, 2 corys. pH of the tank is 6.0. v. soft water. temp is 79/80 deg. The new fish were acclimated properly to this pH in a 5gal tank. The tank has been running for over a year and a half.

Since the introduction of the cardinals, I have more deaths. This includes my other cardinal (who was about 1.5 yrs old) and my small angelfish who is a few weeks old. The cardinal last night displayed some symptoms of being lethargic, not able to keep from flipping around, and was rapidly breathing. I quarantined him immediately in a hospital tank but did not make it through the night. I just now discovered the small angel.

All the fish appear healthy with no visible symptoms of any illness. I am worried about a possible contamination but I also did a 20% water change and may do another. I usually replace around 33% every other day (or more) for the discus. I have never had any problems with this method.

 

[radamsk1]

I wasn't basically concerned with the new cardinals, I know they can have a high mortality rate especially when being introduced to a new tank. I assumed them to be a bad batch or possibly diseased. What is annoying is that I couldn't physically identify any symptoms from the cardinals or even penguins, except maybe the penguins were somewhat lethargic. What I did not expect is my older fish are now affected (my old cardinal, penguinfish tet, and sm. angel)

 

[FroggyFox]

ok, thanks for the extra info. Whenever you start a new thread you have to assume that someone new is going to read it who may not know anything about your tanks that you've said in previous threads.

Sorry to hear about this...I suppose if it all started with the addition of new fish then you have to assume that SOMETHING came in with the new fish. Its hard to treat something with no symptoms...but maybe pick a multifunctional med and start treating? Do you have salt in your water? Quickly quarantining fish might be good...but if whatever it is is already in your big tank...then you need to treat that whole tank.

I'm not real great at the whole disease thing, hopefully someone else will have some ideas for you.

 

[radamsk1]

Yea, I have some salt in the water, but not overly too much since of the plants. I did add some extra immediately on notice of the fish dropping off, oddly one a day. I've also been doing extra water changes, although they are frequent with my discus, 30%a day.

Anyone know about a broad spectrum antibiotic med that might help? And if it will disturb my biological filtration????

 

[Lotus]

If you suspect it's an internal or systemic bacterial infection, then you can try Maracyn II, it shouldn't affect your biological filter.

I'm guessing it's a bacterial infection, because a parasite would probably take longer to kill the fish, and a fungal infection would have external symptoms. There are a few viral fish diseases around, but not much info on them and there doesn't seem to be a cure (much like viral infections in humans).

That's really the only thing I can think of. I had a strange disease go through one of my tanks. I tried almost everything, but nothing worked. One day the fish would look fine, the next day they would be dead It only affected certain types of fish (in my case it was loaches).

You definitely need to quarantine all new fish.

Good luck with it