Help! Mysterious Disease Killing My Fish!

[Gootz]

I just recently setup a new planted 29G, cycled the tank, all levels are and were good.  I stocked it with a betta and an oto after the first week of cycling to help jumpstart it.  After ~4 weeks of cycling I went to Petco, picked up 3 cardinal tetras and this is when the trouble started.  The CTs kept dying, so after taking them back and getting 3 more, I was left with only 3 alive.  Before the second to last one died I noticed it's tail started to become discolored and turned almost a white color.  The entire tail was gone after a matter of a day or less.  I managed to take a pic of it, but it's not a very good one.
 

 
That one died and I was left with 2 healthy looking CTs.  That was up until this morning when I checked the tank and found that only 1 was left.  And even worse than that, I noticed my betta, who was completely healthy and happy the day before, was very sickly looking.  I snapped a pic of him too.
 

 
What is going on?!?  I really want to save the betta and the other 2 still alive before whatever it is that's killing them take a toll on my entire livestock.  Please help!
 

 

[Gootz]

OIs it fin rot? I thought that wasn't contagious. Currently en route to petco. Hoping I can save my betta

 

[PrairieSunflower]

What are your water stats?

A few things come to mind. Could your beta be nipping the tetra? Beta are often not good community fish. Tetra also like to be in larger groups of at least 6-8. They are also not good fish for new tanks.

Is that white patch next to your beta's head part of its coloring or is that new?

I am not certain what the trouble is, and hopefully someone will chime in... but my number one suspect would be your tetra got nipped by your beta. And I wonder if water quality is affecting your beta. I'd personally start with a large water change before deciding on meds.

 

[Gootz]

It's definitely a fungus. Water quality is not an issue.

 

[greenmumma141]

the white spot on the betta and white coloring on the neons' tails sounds like an infection to me. if there were nipping going on, you would see little bits taken out of the tail, not white coloring then the whole tail gone the next day. you have some sort of bacterial or fungal infection imo.

 

[Gootz]

The betta's discoloration is not white, it's darker like a grey and it pretty much ate away his entire fin.   I went and got some Pimafix since it's non-toxic to live plants.  I performed a 30% water change, removed the (carbon) filter, added the appropriate dose of pimafix and am now just hoping it helps.  The betta is now just completely drained of energy and is literally laying on the driftwood in a spot that is protected from the filter's current. 
 
I hope he pulls through.  He is a cool fish.  The last CT is still alive along with the oto and show no signs of the fungus/infection (yet).


Any other suggestions or thoughts here?  I'm really really bummed out.  I spent a lot of time and effort setting up the tank only to have a bad shipment of CTs screw everything up.  Super frustrating.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Get a quarantine tank for the next time you want to add new fish.

Hope he gets well.

 

[phoenixgsd]

I just recently setup a new planted 29G, cycled the tank, all levels are and were good.  I stocked it with a betta and an oto after the first week of cycling to help jumpstart it.  After ~4 weeks of cycling
 
What is going on?!? 

whats going on is it sounds like your tank isnt properly cycled, a tank does not cycle in 4 weeks nor will adding a fish 'jumpstart' it after a week,
 
what is your water stats? how much and how often do you water change? when was your last water change?

 

[PlumbersMerchant]

i had the same problem but mine was in reverse, it all started when i introduced the fighting fish. the tetra's tails went white and the fins were missing. watched the tank for ages, had the kids keeping an eye on it and found that the beta was causing the tetras to be stressed. found it swimming round biting the tail and fins off a tetra with a white tail until just a stub was left and it died. shortly after white spot broke out and did my tank in !

 

[Gootz]

Get a quarantine tank for the next time you want to add new fish.

Hope he gets well.

Thanks.  I had a little 6 gallon, but it cracked.   I've never had a problem before today with new fish other than 1 time with ick.  But I caught it in time and was able to rid the tank before any casualties.
 

I just recently setup a new planted 29G, cycled the tank, all levels are and were good.  I stocked it with a betta and an oto after the first week of cycling to help jumpstart it.  After ~4 weeks of cycling
 
What is going on?!? 

whats going on is it sounds like your tank isnt properly cycled, a tank does not cycle in 4 weeks nor will adding a fish 'jumpstart' it after a week,
 
what is your water stats? how much and how often do you water change? when was your last water change?

The tank is properly cycled.  I ran out of testing strips, but the last 3 times I brought in a water sample to my LFS and they tested it for me.  Everything was right on point.
 
I change the water once per week between 25-30%.  Last water change before today (to help with the treatment) was last Tuesday (6 days ago).  It's not a water quality problem IMO and my LFS's opinion.  It was a bad batch of CTs carrying a fungus. 
 

i had the same problem but mine was in reverse, it all started when i introduced the fighting fish. the tetra's tails went white and the fins were missing. watched the tank for ages, had the kids keeping an eye on it and found that the beta was causing the tetras to be stressed. found it swimming round biting the tail and fins off a tetra with a white tail until just a stub was left and it died. shortly after white spot broke out and did my tank in !

So what exactly was the problem?  Was it the betta nipping the CTs?  It sounds like the CTs had a white tail (fungus?) and the betta was just nipping them off?  Unsure of what you mean.

 

[PlumbersMerchant]

me either really ha ha. all i no is that the problems all started when i introduced the beta. i observed fin nipping firstly then the white tail (possibly fungus) just after. the fish when i took them out were slimy too !

 

[greenmumma141]

me either really ha ha. all i no is that the problems all started when i introduced the beta. i observed fin nipping firstly then the white tail (possibly fungus) just after. the fish when i took them out were slimy too !

 
Fish will produce extra slime when they are infected with a fungus or bacteria. Your betta was probably infected when you added him to the tank.

 

[Gootz]

me either really ha ha. all i no is that the problems all started when i introduced the beta. i observed fin nipping firstly then the white tail (possibly fungus) just after. the fish when i took them out were slimy too !

 
Fish will produce extra slime when they are infected with a fungus or bacteria. Your betta was probably infected when you added him to the tank.

What are your thoughts on Pimafix?  Do you think it will do the trick?

 

[byork]

You say you and the LFS agree that it is not water quality, it very well may not be, but with out knowing the specific parameters of the water and other specifics such as filtration, injection, fertilization, etc. it is very difficult to assist. Just from the photos you have posted it looks like you have low hardness or macro nutrient deficiency as evidence of the discolored leaf. Plants tend to grow vigorously at first and then tapper off after 4- 6 weeks not die or decompose (releasing NH3). I did not see any new growth. This could be evidence of very unstable water parameters complicated by the lack of buffering capacity. This may not be evident in the simple pH, NH3, NO2 testing that most LFS conduct for free due to the time that the water has to degas before arriving for testing. Additionally, you get what you pay for. Free water quality testing is a perfect example of that but I maybe I am wrong and the employees at your LFS have studied water quality and organic chemistry in great detail. Test strips are notoriously unreliable. IMO for the species you are keeping a 6.5 pH with a swing of no more than 0.2 from day to night should be maintained and all other parameters (NH3 NO2) should be maintained at 0 ppm. The fish show classic signs of NO2 poisoning.

 

[VickyChaiTea]

I've read that Pimafix is at best benign and at worst deadly to anabantoids, because it can coat the labyrinth organ and cause all sorts of trouble. I've also read anecdotes about it melting their fins. I never use it because it's just tea tree oil, and as far as I can tell it's a general antiseptic and nothing more. I've not seen anything scientific but I stay away from the stuff.
 
Test strips are also generally inaccurate and a liquid test kit is something you'll want to invest in.
 
Since cardinals are schooling you really want a group of 6 or more. So even under the best circumstances the stress of being in such a small group can cause illness and death.
 
Unfortunately, I think the fish were sick when you got them. That coupled with the small school was a problem. I say this because I've seen a very similar type of infection in bettas that spreads so rapidly that a fish can go from having a spot and overnight half his body will be covered. It honestly looks like dead tissue. grey and tattered. Here are some photos of when I've seen it. I don't know what it is exactly but It's not very nice, I can tell you that much. I'm not sure if it's the same as what your boy has, though.
 

(this poor guy also had a saprolegnia infection, secondary to whatever made that sore on his head. He did not survive.)

 
Since we don't know if it's bacterial or fungal it'll be best to treat with a medication that treats both, like Furan-2 http/www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=4827
 
A 6 gallon is absolutely too small for cardinals anyway, they require a lot of horizontal swimming space and do better in large schools.
 
What are the exact results of your water test? Sometimes pet store employees will think an ammonia reading of 1.0 is perfectly safe.
 
I'm sorry this happened to you. As someone else suggested, a quarantine tank is going to help prevent this kind of thing from happening in the future.