Second cardinal tetra died in less than a month :(

[Colin_T]

You're going to keep finding dead fish kiddo.

Imagine a kangaroo with a nasty disease hopped on into your bedroom and died on your bed while you were at school. And while you're at school that dead roo is leaking all sorts of disgusting things all over your pillows and bedding. What would you do when you got home and found it? Would you just get your dad to take it out into the yard and then happily get into your bed? Of course not. You'd have to open all the windows, change and sanitise (or even throw out) your bedding and mattress, scrub the floors etc

When you don't do water changes after finding a dead fish, you're basically making the rest of your fish sleep in that dead kangaroo bed



No kangaroos were hurt in this imagined illustration...

I would eat the kangaroo, then roll in the smelly gross sheets and lick up the blood. And lots of kangaroos were hurt in my imagined version

 

[elephantnose3334]

Enough with the earbashing, she knows now.

Don't panic over this, it happens. In future if a fish dies you try to do a water change asap to dilute anything that might have contributed to its death. You are doing a water change on Saturday so just do it then.

If you can post some pictures of the remaining cardinal tetras and maybe the silvertips, I will check them for diseases.

Just took a photo of the remaining cardinals to check for diseases. They look normal to me but I don't know if they have disease...

 

[Colin_T]

The top cardinal tetra has damage to the tail, which could be from someone biting it. The fish also looks really fat, almost bloated. One of the other cardinals was bloated too when it died.
Are they eating properly?
What does their poop look like?

The silvertip tetra looks like it has a small amount of excess mucous on its back near the dorsal (top) fin. This could be an external protozoan infection like Costia, or a smudge on the glass.
Are any of the fish rubbing or flicking against anything in the tank?
Can you post another picture of the silvertip tetra?
See if you can see the excess mucous on the fish, let me know if you can.

The cardinal that is looking straight at the camera, I can't tell anything because of the angle.

The remaining cardinal looks fine.

 

[elephantnose3334]

The top cardinal tetra has damage to the tail, which could be from someone biting it. The fish also looks really fat, almost bloated. One of the other cardinals was bloated too when it died.
Are they eating properly?
What does their poop look like?

The silvertip tetra looks like it has a small amount of excess mucous on its back near the dorsal (top) fin. This could be an external protozoan infection like Costia, or a smudge on the glass.
Are any of the fish rubbing or flicking against anything in the tank?
Can you post another picture of the silvertip tetra?
See if you can see the excess mucous on the fish, let me know if you can.

The cardinal that is looking straight at the camera, I can't tell anything because of the angle.

The remaining cardinal looks fine.

They haven't eaten when put food into the tank when I feed them, I look scary to them, that could be why. The third cardinal looking at the camera is thin. They do rub against the tank when they get scared, but I'm being very careful not to scare them. I don't see fish poop but when gravel-vacced, the poop looks normal. I can post another pic of the silvertip if you like. I just did a water change this afternoon.

 

[Colin_T]

Who feeds them if they don't eat when you put food in?
What do they do when you put food in?
When do you offer them food (how long after you turn the light on or do a water change)?

Normally the fish should get used to you feeding them within a week. If you put food in the tank when the lights first come on, most fish will ignore it and possibly even panic and hide in the plants. You wait a few hours after the lights have come on and then feed them. If you feed them in the evening, feed them a couple of hours before the lights go out.

You should avoid feeding fish for at least a few hours after doing a water change. Most fish don't eat straight after a water change due to the stress of water change and gravel cleaning. It stresses the fish a bit and they need a few hours to recover. I didn't feed my fish after I did a water change. I fed them a few hours before the water change and then nothing until the following day.

-----------------------

TURNING LIGHTS ON AND OFF
Stress from tank lights coming on when the room is dark can be an issue. Fish don't have eyelids and don't tolerate going from complete dark to bright light (or vice versa) instantly.

In the morning open the curtains or turn the room light on at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the tank light on. This will reduce the stress on the fish and they won't go from a dark tank to a bright tank instantly.

At night turn the room light on and then turn the tank light off. Wait at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the room light out. This allows the fish to settle down for the night instead of going from a brightly lit tank to complete darkness instantly.

Try to have the lights on at the same time each day. Use a timer if possible.

If the light unit is programmable, have it on a low setting for the first 30-60 minutes and increase the brightness over time. Do the opposite in the evening and gradually reduce the light for the last 30-60 minutes before lights out.

If you don't have live plants in the tank, you only need the light on for a few hours in the evening. You might turn them on at 4 or 5pm and off at 9pm.

If you do have live plants in the tank, you can have the lights on for 8-16 hours a day but the fish and plants need 8 hours of darkness to rest. Most people with live plants in their aquarium will have the lights on for 8-12 hours a day.

-----------------------

I would add some salt for 2 weeks and see how they go.

SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for 2 weeks.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket (about 2 litres) of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.

-----------------------

To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, remove these before measuring the height of the water level so you get a more accurate water volume.

You can use a permanent marker to draw a line on the tank at the water level and put down how many litres are in the tank at that level.

 

[elephantnose3334]

Who feeds them if they don't eat when you put food in?
What do they do when you put food in?
When do you offer them food (how long after you turn the light on or do a water change)?

Normally the fish should get used to you feeding them within a week. If you put food in the tank when the lights first come on, most fish will ignore it and possibly even panic and hide in the plants. You wait a few hours after the lights have come on and then feed them. If you feed them in the evening, feed them a couple of hours before the lights go out.

You should avoid feeding fish for at least a few hours after doing a water change. Most fish don't eat straight after a water change due to the stress of water change and gravel cleaning. It stresses the fish a bit and they need a few hours to recover. I didn't feed my fish after I did a water change. I fed them a few hours before the water change and then nothing until the following day.

-----------------------

TURNING LIGHTS ON AND OFF
Stress from tank lights coming on when the room is dark can be an issue. Fish don't have eyelids and don't tolerate going from complete dark to bright light (or vice versa) instantly.

In the morning open the curtains or turn the room light on at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the tank light on. This will reduce the stress on the fish and they won't go from a dark tank to a bright tank instantly.

At night turn the room light on and then turn the tank light off. Wait at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the room light out. This allows the fish to settle down for the night instead of going from a brightly lit tank to complete darkness instantly.

Try to have the lights on at the same time each day. Use a timer if possible.

If the light unit is programmable, have it on a low setting for the first 30-60 minutes and increase the brightness over time. Do the opposite in the evening and gradually reduce the light for the last 30-60 minutes before lights out.

If you don't have live plants in the tank, you only need the light on for a few hours in the evening. You might turn them on at 4 or 5pm and off at 9pm.

If you do have live plants in the tank, you can have the lights on for 8-16 hours a day but the fish and plants need 8 hours of darkness to rest. Most people with live plants in their aquarium will have the lights on for 8-12 hours a day.

-----------------------

I would add some salt for 2 weeks and see how they go.

SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for 2 weeks.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket (about 2 litres) of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.

-----------------------

To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, remove these before measuring the height of the water level so you get a more accurate water volume.

You can use a permanent marker to draw a line on the tank at the water level and put down how many litres are in the tank at that level.

I offer them food when I get up in the morning and they don't usually respond to it. The tank is 41L high 30cm x 30cm x 45cm. It usually takes 10 minutes to do the water change on my tank. My dad and I just did a water change on my younger sister's tank due to it being cloudy.