mikeyqbone601
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- Dec 24, 2010
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Hi,
I am having sort of a dilemma with my fish tank as of late. One of my 65 gallon tanks (water temperature 80 degrees, ammonia 0ppm, nitrite 0ppm, nitrate 10-20ppm, PH is about 7.6, 20% water changes every two weeks) has been experiencing quite a few deaths within the last two weeks. I've had my tank set up for 4 months now and these past two weeks I've lost 2 hatchefish, 6 penguin tetras and 4 cardinal tetras. My tank started with one very small angelfish (not aggressive), a female gold gourami (not aggressive at all as I know males tend to be quite aggressive), 6 penguin tetras and 10 cardinal tetras. I would say for about a month, this set-up was fine. Then I purchased 5 hatchetfish. About a week later, one of my cardinals died. I just assumed it was a bad fish, so I purchased another one to replace it. I had my suspicions about the angel and gourami but they don't chase any of the fish around and stay away from each other. The cardinal's fins were not bitten/shredded or anything like that when I found it dead. In the next couple of days, I lost two hatchetfish. Again, the fins were fine. Just thought they were bad fish since they were new (and yes, I know I should quarantine my new fish, but I don't have a hospital tank at the moment). None of my dead fish had any signs of disease (white spots - ick, fin rot, discoloration or anything like that). Then in this last week, I started losing one penguin a day and a cardinal tetra every other day until my 6 penguins were all dead and I lost 4 of my 10 cardinals. After a while, I started noticing a trend with the soon-to-be dead fish. That fish would stop schooling with the others and would start breathing really heavily but stay in place. Not really doing any research (been super busy with work and Christmas shopping), I've been just removing the dead fish. There had been times that I would see the gold gourami pick at a dead carcass, but I'm pretty sure that it didn't kill any of the tetras. I think it just picks at everything in the tank. Whenever I found a dead fish soon after death, the fish is usually in one piece. I sat and watched the gold gourami just to make sure, but no aggression at all. Then I started reading about a disease called neon tetra disease that affects other tetras as well, but cardinals are supposed to be immune to. The behavior and symptoms of this disease seem to fit what I've been experiencing to a tee. The fish become restless, breath fast, stop schooling, have slightly curved bodies, and then die. And I've read that this disease spreads when fish nibble on the infected carcass. It seems the gold gourami is immune to this disease. When my gold gourami eats anything, it usually puts too much in its mouth and spits everything out and some of the tetras go after the small bits. I'm wondering if the gourami is taking bites of the dead infected fish and spitting everything out and all the other small tetras are eating the infected fish thus becoming infected. I lost the last cardinal two days ago and didn't notice any of the remaining cardinals breathing heavily or not schooling until today. Once again, I noticed one swimming by itself and breathing heavily. For the first time, and I probably should have done this sooner, I immediately removed it. My questions are - is it possible my cardinals have this neon tetra disease even though I hear they are supposed to be immune to this disease? If there is some sort of disease that is spreading throughout my tank, what can I do to stop it? What else can it be if not the neon tetra disease? This is the first time I've removed a fish that I believe is infected before it dies, can this disease still spread if there is not a dead infected fish in the tank for the other fish to nibble on? If my current 5 cardinals look fine, are they probably already infected and will eventually die, or could they be lucky enough to not have gotten infected? I currently have 3 hatchetfish, one angel, one gold gourami, and the 5 cardinals. Sorry this is so long. Thanks for your thoughts! This is my first post. I appreciate any feedback.
(My other 65 gallon - 5 silver dollars, 9 black skirt tetras, 7 serpaes - no deaths in 4 months - same water parameters).
I am having sort of a dilemma with my fish tank as of late. One of my 65 gallon tanks (water temperature 80 degrees, ammonia 0ppm, nitrite 0ppm, nitrate 10-20ppm, PH is about 7.6, 20% water changes every two weeks) has been experiencing quite a few deaths within the last two weeks. I've had my tank set up for 4 months now and these past two weeks I've lost 2 hatchefish, 6 penguin tetras and 4 cardinal tetras. My tank started with one very small angelfish (not aggressive), a female gold gourami (not aggressive at all as I know males tend to be quite aggressive), 6 penguin tetras and 10 cardinal tetras. I would say for about a month, this set-up was fine. Then I purchased 5 hatchetfish. About a week later, one of my cardinals died. I just assumed it was a bad fish, so I purchased another one to replace it. I had my suspicions about the angel and gourami but they don't chase any of the fish around and stay away from each other. The cardinal's fins were not bitten/shredded or anything like that when I found it dead. In the next couple of days, I lost two hatchetfish. Again, the fins were fine. Just thought they were bad fish since they were new (and yes, I know I should quarantine my new fish, but I don't have a hospital tank at the moment). None of my dead fish had any signs of disease (white spots - ick, fin rot, discoloration or anything like that). Then in this last week, I started losing one penguin a day and a cardinal tetra every other day until my 6 penguins were all dead and I lost 4 of my 10 cardinals. After a while, I started noticing a trend with the soon-to-be dead fish. That fish would stop schooling with the others and would start breathing really heavily but stay in place. Not really doing any research (been super busy with work and Christmas shopping), I've been just removing the dead fish. There had been times that I would see the gold gourami pick at a dead carcass, but I'm pretty sure that it didn't kill any of the tetras. I think it just picks at everything in the tank. Whenever I found a dead fish soon after death, the fish is usually in one piece. I sat and watched the gold gourami just to make sure, but no aggression at all. Then I started reading about a disease called neon tetra disease that affects other tetras as well, but cardinals are supposed to be immune to. The behavior and symptoms of this disease seem to fit what I've been experiencing to a tee. The fish become restless, breath fast, stop schooling, have slightly curved bodies, and then die. And I've read that this disease spreads when fish nibble on the infected carcass. It seems the gold gourami is immune to this disease. When my gold gourami eats anything, it usually puts too much in its mouth and spits everything out and some of the tetras go after the small bits. I'm wondering if the gourami is taking bites of the dead infected fish and spitting everything out and all the other small tetras are eating the infected fish thus becoming infected. I lost the last cardinal two days ago and didn't notice any of the remaining cardinals breathing heavily or not schooling until today. Once again, I noticed one swimming by itself and breathing heavily. For the first time, and I probably should have done this sooner, I immediately removed it. My questions are - is it possible my cardinals have this neon tetra disease even though I hear they are supposed to be immune to this disease? If there is some sort of disease that is spreading throughout my tank, what can I do to stop it? What else can it be if not the neon tetra disease? This is the first time I've removed a fish that I believe is infected before it dies, can this disease still spread if there is not a dead infected fish in the tank for the other fish to nibble on? If my current 5 cardinals look fine, are they probably already infected and will eventually die, or could they be lucky enough to not have gotten infected? I currently have 3 hatchetfish, one angel, one gold gourami, and the 5 cardinals. Sorry this is so long. Thanks for your thoughts! This is my first post. I appreciate any feedback.
(My other 65 gallon - 5 silver dollars, 9 black skirt tetras, 7 serpaes - no deaths in 4 months - same water parameters).
