Help with fish loss

[albie]

I recently restarted my 10gal, and I'm having trouble with fish loss. My tank is cycled, with Ammonia and Nitrite at 0ppm, Nitrate at 0 - 5 ppm, and pH at about 7.2. I stocked the tank with 3 cories and 7 neon tetras on 11/10. Right from the start, one of the cories was sluggish, not moving as much as the other two. The tetras all seemed fine after tank introduction.

Beginning 11/12, I began losing one tetra a day, finding it stuck to my filter intake. Then yesterday, the always-sluggish cory died too. I'm left with two tetra and two cories at this point. I don't see any signs of discoloration, or any other signs of stress.

Any suggestions? I was going to restock with new tetra today, but I don't want to if they'll just die too.

[Lady Hobbs]

Do you have enough filtration in the tank? Or a bubbler? It's possible they were oxygen starved.

[KcEE]

Yeah, I agree with Lady Hobbs. Did you notice your fish constantly swimming at the surface looking like they're gasping for air? Cause I had that once, Added an air-pump and they were fine after awhile.

[Lady Hobbs]

I'm also wondering about those water parmeters because you said you "recently started" the 10 gallon. How can the water parmeters be correct on a recently started tank?

[cocoa_pleco]

good point. how long ago did you "restart" it. if its less than a week i dont think its cycled

[albie]

I hoped to avoid all of the cycle questions by giving my water parameters, but I guess that didn't work. I did a fishless cycle that took about a month, and by recently I meant about six weeks ago. The tank is cycled.

I have a Tetra Whisper 30 Power Filter, and I also have an air pump which powers a 6" long air stone along the bottom of the tank. I believe the water is properly filtered, and i think the fish get plenty of air.

[spudbuds]

How did you acclimate the fish? I was having a pretty high death rate on my new fish until I started acclimating and introducing them properly.

[albie]

I was acclimating them by letting the bag they came in float for a while in the tank water, hopefully equalizing water temperatures. Then I put a bit of the tank water into the bag and let it set for a few more minutes before pouring it into the tank.

One thing to consider. It was a cool day when I brought them home, and they spent a bit of time with me walking from the pet store to the train, and then from the train back to my apartment. Would their water temperature be able to change enough to stress them in the 45 minutes it took to get from the store to home? I suppose it probably would, but I'd welcome your similar experiences...

[Faith_at_Large]

I have my own fish loss issues, but I always found that my new fish were a little off the first few days, often refusing to eat, but after that they picked up. I did loose a couple of fish to my filter intake (home tank from Wal-Mart) until I started covering it with foam secured by the elastics that came from the bags my fish came in. No more fish getting stuck. Now I always use filter foam on my home tank. My work tank (Topfin) has adjustable flows for the filter and a different style of filter intake and none of my Danios have had any trouble with it. Good luck with your fish.

[kurly]

I don't really have any advice as I am new to fishkeeping myself. I Just wanted to tell you that I am sorry your fish died. I had four fish die a few days after I purchased them from what was probably due to stress from both shipping and also they were sucked up in the filter intake. I retrieved all 7 of them but 4 died. I did put a sponge on the filter intake and the remaining fish have recovered and are fine now. I hope you find out what is going on so you can correct it. It also may not be anything wrong with your tank since all of your water parameters are okay, but something wrong with the individual fish you purchased.

[spudbuds]

As far as acclimating, I started doing the following:

- Let the bag float for 30 minutes
- Add 1/4 cup of tank water, wait 10 minutes
- Add 1/4 cup of tank water, wait 10 minutes
- Add 1/4 cup of tank water, wait 10 minutes
- Dose the tank with StressCoat
- Net the fish into the tank

I've heard others having luck throwing the fish right in, but it didn't work for me. Honestly, it's been my experience that the StressCoat is the most important step. I've done the same acclimating steps as above, but forgot the StressCoat and I lost fish. Haven't lost one yet when I remembered to dose with StressCoat. It may be just a coincidence because I haven't been doing this very long so I haven't brought home that many fish.

I hope you can figure out the problem. Losing fish is never fun.

- Bill

[Dixie]

I don't really have an answer either. Maybe they did get cold the day you brought them home (try using a little insulated cooler for transporting them)or try covering the intake like others said because they might be getting stuck in it & dieing there. I'd cover it and then try some more.
Another hint I can pass on is not to dump the water you brought them home in into your tank. I know some people do but I don't think it's a good idea.
Good luck,
Dixie

[albie]

Thanks for the advice. I did a water change after my cycle and stress coated the tank afterwards, but didn't add any more the day I got the fish, which was, I believe, the following day, so that may have contributed. I will also take a bit more time to acclimate them before adding them to the tank next time. And I should also cover the filter intake, but I'll have to figure out what to do it with.

Since I posted this yesterday I haven't lost any fish, and they all seemed to be quite active and pleasant this morning, so hopefully they worst has passed...

[kurly]

I'm glad you haven't lost anymore fish and hope everything continues to get better. I don't know what kind of filter you have but I cut a small hole in the center of a filter sponge and slid it over the filter intake on my AquaClear 30. It fits nice and snug so now my fish can swim around it without getting sucked in.

[Faith_at_Large]

I wrap a Fluval 2Plus Water Polishing Pad around the intake and secure it with elastics - this filter is just about the right size and serves as a prefilter for my backmounted filter. Sometimes I buy the longer versions and just cut them down to size - more fidgity, but cheaper. I like the idea of just cutting a hole in the middle, I might try that (elastics do not last forever and my stockpile of elastics is slowly getting used up - no more new fish for a while).

[Lady Hobbs]

I hoped to avoid all of the cycle questions by giving my water parameters, but I guess that didn't work. I did a fishless cycle that took about a month, and by recently I meant about six weeks ago. The tank is cycled.

I have a Tetra Whisper 30 Power Filter, and I also have an air pump which powers a 6" long air stone along the bottom of the tank. I believe the water is properly filtered, and i think the fish get plenty of air.

I didn't mean to step on your toes here by bringing that up but so often here, new people will say their tank is cycled because all their readings are 0 only to find out it never even started. :)

Glad your fish loss has declined.

[nanaglen2001]

In my oppinion the Tetras just dont like the PH of 7,2. Normaly the need a lower one, about 6,8 or so.

On the other hand, just remember Tetras are normaly caught in the Amazonas and the transported more or less around the world. Maybe they just have been still weakened from their transport, then the different PH, could be the reason that did them in.

You said the Cory was already behaving differently, then I guess it was already sick and just died in your tank. When there is somethin I learned its: if I want to keep 10 Cories, I have to buy 12, cause 2 of them always die. Dont ask me why.

[SkarloeysMom]

It sounds like your tank is not the problem. From what I've heard, when you buy Neons about half will not make the transition to the tank because they are just very sensitive fish. Maybe the LFS you bought from had a tank full of newly shipped, all ready stressed fish. As for the cory, if he was sluggish from the start then I think that was a problem he already had.

I bought a sickly cory once and he never got better even after treating him. I couldn't tell he was sickly when I got him because I really couldn't see him in the plastic bag. It was only after I got home that I noticed he had fin rot starting. Stuff like that happens. Hopefully your next fish purchase will be healthier fish.