Picked up some tetras

[PUNISHER VETTE]

Just got back from the LFS. I've been working on getting my tank highly planted and when thats almost done add fish. I'm to the point planting that i just have to wait till stuff fills in so i decided to get some tetras.

Neon tetra(10) but one didn't make it for some reason... Right when i put them in the tank all 9 went to the bottom and started hiding in a little pit while the 10th was swimming near the top. After about 2 hours i found him dead. :ssad:

How many can i eventually get in my 29g? I'll probably just get all neons....and not worry about other fish in this tank.

[Tolley]

did you acclimatize them?

[YaYgoldFish]

Maybe adding too many fish at once unstabelized your ammoniac and nitrites. I suggest checking them, and if you find any do do a 15% water change, unless you have alot.

In a 29g with neons only You could eventually have about 20. Try to add 5 a week so it wont be too hard on your levels.

[PUNISHER VETTE]

I had them sit in their bag for about 20min to get the temp more stable for them.

Right when i put them in i ran a test on my water.
pH was 7.5
ammonia between 0 and .25
Nitrate between 0 and 5.0
Nitrite 0

I did a 30% water change about 5 days ago.

I don't think it was anything i did unless it was a fluke... It was instant how much different he was from the rest. Maybe he got injured by net at the store or something.

[YaYgoldFish]

Try checking your parameters tonight to see if anything changed. If it isn't that then I can't be sure..

[Dave66]

I had them sit in their bag for about 20min to get the temp more stable for them.

Right when i put them in i ran a test on my water.
pH was 7.5
ammonia between 0 and .25
Nitrate between 0 and 5.0
Nitrite 0

I did a 30% water change about 5 days ago.

I don't think it was anything i did unless it was a fluke... It was instant how much different he was from the rest. Maybe he got injured by net at the store or something.

Two things, Vette. One, having ANY ammonia at all, which is HIGHLY toxic to fish means your tank is not cycled properly. Two, your acclimation technique was insufficient. Just equalizing the temperature isn't enough. The fish also need to SLOWLY be acclimated to your tank's water chemistry. The neon probably died because of the chemistry shock.
Sorry to sound rather harsh, Vette, as its not my nature. Had you acclimated the fish properly, it'd probably be still alive.

Dave

PS: I remembered I answered a post yesterday about how to do drip acclimation. Subsitute 'Tetras' for Otos.
———

OK, the drip method. You'll need a clean plastic bucket, a stack of books or bricks, your bag 0' Otos, and a length of air line tubing that reaches from the tank to about the middle of the bucket. Tie a loose knot in about the middle of the tube. Use the books or bricks to set the bucket at an angle. Start a syphon with the airline and let the water go down it into the bucket. Adjust the knot until you get one drop a second. Discard the water already in the bucket. Very, very gently pore your bag o' Otos into the bucket. Allow the one-per-second drip to slowly (takes an hour or so) double the amount of water in the bucket. Discard half, and allow it to double again. Then carefully net out the fish and add them to the tank.
Drip method prevents water param shock and thus helps prevent disease and death. Drip is also the standard method acclimating things like corals, fish, crabs and shrimp; in other words, reef life. In reef life, the doubling/discard can go on for hours.

Dave
Hope this helps.

[PUNISHER VETTE]

The tanks been up for 3 months with plants now. I added 5 glow light tetras before i came upon this site and did some reading on cycling. Did a water change without any sort of chlorine eliminator and i think that killed them on accident. That was about 2 weeks after the tank was set up. About the same time i added the fish i also got some BioSpira at the LFS. Wasn't this supposed to cycle my tank? I then acquired a test kit for water testing. Now 3 months later i just got these neons.

If you think my tank hasn't cycled yet then whats my next step?

I'll remember the drip method and when i get more fish will definitely do that.

[Lady Hobbs]

I don't think losing 1 tetra out of 10 is a bad average. Neons are pretty tender little fish and it might have been stressed by just moving it from the store to your home.

[Dave66]

I don't think losing 1 tetra out of 10 is a bad average. Neons are pretty tender little fish and it might have been stressed by just moving it from the store to your home.

Possibly, Hobbsy, but I've never lost a tetra in acclimation using the drip method, and since my fish come by mail, they are pretty darn stressed when they get here from another part of the world.

Dave

[smaug]

I wouldnt fret too much over the loss of one neon.They are a fragile species at best and even with a perfect acclim. process you will tend to have problems with neons.Your tank has been set up more then long enough to be cycled as good as its going to get.If you just want neons in your tank you could eaisily have 20-25 of them.Good luck.

[PUNISHER VETTE]

Just lost 2 more:ssad: :ssad: . Did a 50% water change hoping it might help and didn't know what else to do.... It may not have been the right thing to do but i couldn't just sit there letting them die. I retested before the change and the #'s seemed the same:confused: .

[lasm]

Just curious... what are your water parameters... Your tank may be cycled but your nitrites may be high.

[shalafi04]

maybe your LFS just sold you some unhealthy neons. Which would suck, but dont beat yourself up over it. If its their fault. the Strong will survive...

what is the temp/parameters in your tank???

[Tolley]

I had them sit in their bag for about 20min to get the temp more stable for them.


Did you acclimatize them to your water, then chuck all the water from the bag out? ( putting none of the lfs water in your tank? )

[PUNISHER VETTE]

Well i don't know if it was my accumulation process or what else i may have done wrong but there are 4 left and 1 doesn't stay with the pack at all. Seems like they are doing fine then all of a sudden one starts swimming poorly and within an hour is gone. I can't imagine they LFS sold me bad stuff and it's probably more on my end somewhere....i just have to figure out where.

My tank is a 30g planted with DIY CO2.
Temp is kept at 79degrees.
On the first page where my testing results when i got the fish in.
Ammonia and nitrates where in the very smallest part but since then i did a water change.

I'll have to look at my DIY CO2. I have it set up correctly i think but i still get a bunch of bubbles staying at the top that must not be CO2 with a thin layer of some sort of clear film. (kinda like an clear oil)Don't know if maybe that stuff is bad for the fish.

[Tolley]

you do a large w/c to get rid of the bubbles and film.

What you've told me is.. you bought them home, stabilized the temp for them and then let them go along with all the fish stores water with who knows what diseases....

correct me if im wrong but this would be the third time asking you.

[PUNISHER VETTE]

you do a large w/c to get rid of the bubbles and film.

What you've told me is.. you bought them home, stabilized the temp for them and then let them go along with all the fish stores water with who knows what diseases....

correct me if im wrong but this would be the third time asking you.

Yeah. I hadn't heard about the drip accumulation technique before hand. I dumped about half the water from the LFS into the tank with the fish. Only enough to get the fish out the bag.

[shalafi04]

well live and learn. Mistakes happen and you've done a water change since their passing.
Now you know about the drip acclimation and next time you can take stronger precautions in insuring that your fishes stay alive.
This is one heck of a learning experience, and luckily it didn't cost you too much money.
I learned from this thread too.
So at the end of the day, we both know about drip acc. and hey... next time things will go more smoothly.
No stress.

[Tolley]

ok i'd keep an eye on your fish for any diseases or parasites etc especially on the 'odd' one could be neon tetra disease.

[Tooch]

Yeah. I hadn't heard about the drip accumulation technique before hand. I dumped about half the water from the LFS into the tank with the fish. Only enough to get the fish out the bag.


Definatly try not to add any water from your lfs. Alot of times, the water isn't in the best of shape. And you don't want to compromise your own tank water

[PUNISHER VETTE]

Definatly try not to add any water from your lfs. Alot of times, the water isn't in the best of shape. And you don't want to compromise your own tank water

whats an easy way to do this? pour the water out into a bowl or bucket while netting the fish? i guess if i do the drip method that tells me. Don't have a net but should get one anyway..

[PUNISHER VETTE]

Here is what i'm worried about. The bubbles and clear oily film at the top of my tank. I'm guessing it's from my DIY CO2 generator but don't know why or what it is.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e289/tparkhi2/Fish%20stuff/IMG_0360.jpg
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e289/tparkhi2/Fish%20stuff/IMG_0361.jpg

[Tolley]

yup what i do is complete the acclimatization, pour them in my big bowl then net em out. works for me lol.

Nets are really cheap and come in very handy.

[Tolley]

sorry i know nothing about co2 cant help you there :(

[PUNISHER VETTE]

Well so far i still have 2 left. Don't know how these survived compared to the others...

I'd hate to put more in to make more of a school and have those dye the same way the others did....