Dead Cardinals

[coolwade]

Is this severe stress?

I brought eight Cardinal Tetras on Staurday afternoon.

Last night I noticed they were acting a little strange so I moved them to a smaller tank to observe them. On doing so I noticed one was upside down and not looking good. I then noticed that there were two on the bottom, obviously dead. Found another on so three dead, one nearly dead and four in a small tank. This morning two dead. Only two left anf I am not sure. The only symptoms were loss off the red colouring, thats it.

Is this just stress? Or is this a disease?

Ammonia 0.0 ppm
NitrIte 0.01 ppm
NitrAte 0.05 ppm
pH 6.8 stable

 

[biogirl361]

i just got some cardinals today, i will let you know if they make it. i sure hope so cause they are really pretty (and not really that cheap). the girl at the fish store said that sometimes right after you move them they will "faint" and lay down on the bottom of the tank, but then "wake back up" in a little while after they de-stress. i didn't observe this behavior when moving them today. since yours died 2 days after bringing them home i doubt this is your problem either. sorry to hear about it. :sad

 

[Analog Saint]

I had the same thing happen with some Neons. First came sudden gasping, then they would suddenly go loner, then the next day, I'd see one swim for a while upside down, then the next day he'd be stuck to the filter- drained of all colour. Whatever it was, it claimed 5/8 of my neons in a harrowing 4 day ordeal. Even with water changes, removal of loners, it still got to them all.

Go back to where you got them, and check for some fish suffering the same fate- I was pretty angry when I came back and found two dead tetras in the sales tank who looked the same as my poor guys- and then others at the top gasping.

Needless to say, I don't buy from P*tsm*rt anymore after those neons. I'd say check the store for the same symptoms... I felt awful for "killing" them, but when I saw that whatever it was probably present before I even bought them- I was angry more than upset.

So don't feel too bad if you have some tetras die on you- I hear they're really temperamental. When I bought mine, they looked healthy, vibrant, and normal. Whatever it was, it hit my tank and the pet store at the same time, and really didn't give me much to work with. Sorry for your loss.

Only from my new LFS do I trust any sort of tetra.

 

[coolwade]

Thanks for that, I broke a golden rule by going to a LFS I don't normally go to. It is run by vets so I thought I would be ok, I was really wrong.

 

[biogirl361]

maybe the neons and cardinals had neon tetra disease. from what you have described i think they presented the symptoms of this disease, loss of red color, gasping, highly contagious. check it out...

 

[coolwade]

I have had to deal with NTD before. I never even thought of it. Will see what happens when I go home this afternoon.