Fish Dead Already

[weezebegs]

Well after a long patient time waiting to finally cycle ...

(with Danio fish and later with guppies....I know !!! ..under bad advice from LFS...not my fault you know the story)

I went and purchased 5 neon tetra today, wanted something colourful as this is a family tank for the kids.

Well you guessed it within 2 hours one of the tetra was dead.

So tomorrow I am going back to get my fish replaced before the kids notice.

But my question to you is...should I do a waterchange incase this fish was diseased, or do you think it is just propably a weak fish.

what should you do when you get a dead fish....obviously remove straight away..but anything else.

 

[electropunk06]

Hi, neon tetras are quite sensitive so should only really go into a tank that has matured (6 months) defiantly do a water change it won't do any harm.
Just take the dead fish out test the water and then do a water change 20%+
Lloyd

 

[mattlee]

was the fish acclimatised for long enough?

do you have water test results?

do a water change as it wont do any harm. also fish that cant be put into a tank unless its 6 months old is total rubbish in my eyes.... as long as the filter is cycled there shouldnt be any issues adding any fish. what happens when you get a sick fish.... you set up a quarentine tank chuck some media in from a cycled filter and you have an instantly cycled tank ready for a sick fish. this tank was set up in 10 minutes
so as long as the filter is cycled properly it shouldnt matter what fish goes in to a tank. ive never had an issue adding any fish to any tanks whether it has been running for a day or a year

 

[Skins]

Hi, neon tetras are quite sensitive so should only really go into a tank that has matured (6 months) defiantly do a water change it won't do any harm.
Just take the dead fish out test the water and then do a water change 20%+
Lloyd

I have also read threads where neon tetra's don't do to well in tanks with filters less than 6 months old(mature).

Keith.

 

[weezebegs]

The fact that the fish was dead within 2 hours I was somewhat surprised.

They LFS know how long my tank has been going for and didn't mention anything about mature tanks ...

Water readings all fine, been testing every other day whilst finishing off my cycle..

also how many fish would you put in a 48L tank...so far I have 11.. plus 2 shrimp if they count ??

 

[fluttermoth]

was the fish acclimatised for long enough?

do you have water test results?

do a water change as it wont do any harm. also fish that cant be put into a tank unless its 6 months old is total rubbish in my eyes.... as long as the filter is cycled there shouldnt be any issues adding any fish. what happens when you get a sick fish.... you set up a quarentine tank chuck some media in from a cycled filter and you have an instantly cycled tank ready for a sick fish. this tank was set up in 10 minutes
so as long as the filter is cycled properly it shouldnt matter what fish goes in to a tank. ive never had an issue adding any fish to any tanks whether it has been running for a day or a year

Personally I've found that it is difficult to keep neons in a new tank.

I offered to grow some green neons on for my mum as I had a tank set up to quarantine some BNs; the tank was set up with plants, gravel and filter media from my 2 year old set up and they still didn't do well. All five BNs had been in there for two weeks with not a problem, but I lost 4 out of the dozen neons in 10 days with never a hint of ammonia or nitrite on any test I did.

I know it makes no sense logically, but it does seem to be true

 

[sinistral]

That's a lot of fish for 48 liters (12 US gallons). You're right to wonder about stocking at this point. I don't know exactly what killed your neon (fairly notorious for being overbred and of weak constitution), but I think you're at your limit with what you have in your signature.

What kind of shrimp? Ghost shrimp? They add only minimally to bioload.

 

[Gvilleguy]

I still like Matlee's question of how the fish were acclimated: how long and with which method? I am convinced (I know, I don't have that much experience) that fish that die quickly in a cycled tank would be for one of two reasons:

1. The fish was in bad shape before you even took ownership.
2. The acclimation was not long or gradual enough.

 

[weezebegs]

I still like Matlee's question of how the fish were acclimated: how long and with which method? I am convinced (I know, I don't have that much experience) that fish that die quickly in a cycled tank would be for one of two reasons:

1. The fish was in bad shape before you even took ownership.
2. The acclimation was not long or gradual enough.

The same as always float the bag for about 15/20 mins open the bag and let a small amount of water in and then gradually let them swim out.

do you think that is wrong....please tell me if it is as I would rather know for next time, did I not float them enough. I only live 10 mins from LFS so they were not travelling in my car for ages

 

[fluttermoth]

I think the longer you aclimatise for,the better your chances of success. Who knows how different water feels to our fish?

After losing 100% of fish I bought online, I think the slower the better; float your fish, bags open for half an hour and then add maybe 25 mls or so every half hour for the next two or three hours at least; then sink the bags and let the fish swim out.

Maybe floating the bags for 30 minutes was ok 20 years ago when nearly all our fish came from suppliers close to us. Nowadays many of our fish are inbred or being tank bred in water that we think is close to our own and we're not realising how important aclimatising might be. I think even holding your bags of fish up in the air to look at them may be detrimental to their health. I think keeping them warm and dark and aclimatising them VERY slowly is far more important than it once was.

I only speak from long years of experience (25+ years in the hobby and things getting more, not less sensitive as the years go by...)

 

[erk628]

I still like Matlee's question of how the fish were acclimated: how long and with which method? I am convinced (I know, I don't have that much experience) that fish that die quickly in a cycled tank would be for one of two reasons:

1. The fish was in bad shape before you even took ownership.
2. The acclimation was not long or gradual enough.

The same as always float the bag for about 15/20 mins open the bag and let a small amount of water in and then gradually let them swim out.

do you think that is wrong....please tell me if it is as I would rather know for next time, did I not float them enough. I only live 10 mins from LFS so they were not travelling in my car for ages

Honestly from my experience and many others for some reason neons just don't seem to do good unless it a very mature tank. You can give it another try and if they die this time I would suggest getting something different and waiting on the neons tell a later time. As far as letting the bag float and opening the bag in the tank I wouldn't do that if I were you. The last thing you wanna do is add potentially harmful water to your tank. If your tank water is getting in the bag good chance the bag water is getting out also. What I do and most others is float the bag for about 20 mins open it up net the fish drop it in the tank pour bag water down the drain. Theres also the drip method but I don't bother with that never seen it necessary.

 

[moochy13]

i have never 'properly' acclimatised a fish. the tied up bag goes in the tank for 20 minutes to match the water temp, then the fish is released. the shortest lifespan of a fish in my tank was just under a month. even that was a plec that was ill when i brought it.