My tetras are dying one by one and ive lost a panda cory aswell

tank has been running for 6 months and i just added some new flying foxes to the water when shortly after they started dying.

I was not told to keep discus with tetras i had the tetras and wanted discus so they told me the only way to keep them together is to level out the water temp between the two.

---------- Post added at 01:12 ---------- Previous post was at 01:12 ----------

O and yes the discus do have the black stripes showing

 

Hi Jack.

Now we are getting somewhere. With the flyimg foxes came some bacterial infection that affects the tetra's and others, but apparantly not the Discus. This happens lots of times, mostly in reverse form to what you experience, ie. the infection kills Discus and not others...

I doubt this is NH3 or any of the other things we have guessed at, so take it easy on the W/C.
If it was my tank I'd up the temp to 30'C so my Discus are happy, and I'd wait and see which of the other fish make it before doing anything else. At least a 10 days wait.

Rgds

Marco

 

Will do thank u, will let you know whats going on on the 10th day.

 

Good luck mate!

 

Hi Jack,

Just for interest sake, are the flying foxes still fine?
Just also want to add, keep up with your normal W/C regiment, (25% weekly) and watch that the discus do not show signs of discomfort or illness. Depending on strain, the first signs will be darkening, hiding, clamped fins and no interest in food.

Rgds

 

No they died 1st lol.
They are fine they swim in the middle of the tank and eat the only thing is that they have their black stripes showing sometimes, like now.
I just did a 30% water change so i guess its only normal they hide a bit.
I just took out 2 more dead tetras sigh Congo and a glowlight i think.
So i shouldnt try alot of w/c to try and get the NO3 down?

 

If you did a water change now, just test again and see what it says.

 

Agree with Vis. Keep checking the NO3 and just change water accordingly.
Also, dont worry about the stress bars on the Discus. Its absolutely normal for them to show the bars at intermittant times, and it is not nescessarily a bad sign. Stress bars are not completely understood as yet but could be just means of communication between fish. Normally dominant fish are less likely to exhibit their bars, but with the intro of 'bar-less' strains, this has also been thrown out the window, as their inability to show their bars can arguably be seen as a 'challenge' by the dominant fish, in turn resulting in botched communication. The bottom line, healthy happy discus can just as well, and do exhibit their stress bars.

 

Interesting info Marco.

 

It is very interesting Go-big. You may find others have a differet theory on these so called 'stress-bars', but that is the one I find to be best. It becomes more interesting with some fish showing these bars in what I would describe 'negative' (as with photography) The bar then seems lighter than the rest of the fish and I find my Discus going through 'cycles' like this every few minutes, depending on the goings on in the tank. This to me is a sure sign of communication between fish. I have a big female which was dominant and never showed bars, until I introduced a large male which she then actually paired off with. Since his intro, her bars are mostly visible, and he's is not.

 

One day i shall have discus but for now im learning patiently. Am i wrong in saying that Discus is the ultimate in freshwater fishkeeping?

 

mmmm...I think is subjective in a persons experience and preferance. For me they are the ultimate fish to keep! Others may find them dull and boring. They are challenging for sure, but so are many other species. Discus are however beautiful and graceful, and on that they are unmatched in my view.

 

thats a whole nother kettle of fish lol

 

Interesting what you said. I wanted to start a new thread but might just join jack cause it seems to be similar.
I have a problem of my coral red danios and cardinals just dying. Closer inspection made me see the fish are swolan up and their scales are standing up from their bodies???
The cardinals just start becoming disorientated (like swimblader and then end up behind a filter or the canister inlet.
The danios stay at the top swell up and start wroting from inside while they still alive then they just get holes in them.
Both of these fish stomaches disintegrate as soon as they die when i scoop them out there stomach falls apart.
Other fish in the tank are my rummynoses, black guppies and discus, 2 bristlenoses, corys and a clown loatch and 4 siamese algae eaters.
All whome seem just fine. The discus are doing so well that a pair laid eggs and there coulors are great.
However the pair do show sighns of darkening and hiding. The snakeskin male stress lines get real dark but only when near to the pair.
Wish makes sence the 2 younger discus seem 100% fine, eager to eat all around the tank ect.

How do i save the red danios and cardinals.
The temp is at 30
Its a planted tank and i do add plant drops.
water change about a week ago.
All the fish have been in this tank and been doing fine for more than 3 months.
The tank has been running for longer though.

 

Hi Fishwhisperer

I would first look into getting these fish into a quaretine tank. Your discus are fine now but this may not last with this situation.
You also do not want to put meds with the discus.

This is noramlly a sign of dropsy and there is no stopping it. Their kidneys fail and this might be why they are rotting from the inside as the kidneys can no longer take toxins out of the body.

 

Hi Fw,
Firstly, sorry to hear about these losses.
I'm at a loss here though. Vis is probably right in his suggestion with Dropsy, and then the outcome is not good
I have NO experience with dropsy and cant give advise beyound what I read in books. Is dropsy contagious I wonder?
Another thing which is possible, and here I am open to correction from someone with newer info. Cardinals we find in shops are more often wild caught specimens, as breeders just cant keep up with demand for these guys. Thats why we find them in shops sporadically as harvesting them is restricted by seasonal allowances.

Now being wild caught they will come with parasites and bugs which should be treated for before introducing them to our tanks.
Now importers, shops etc just do not do this!
So,
(a) it is dropsy where fluid build up gets so bad that the fish eventually 'explodes'
(b) some parasite is literally destroying them from inside.
If parasite,
I know Altum uses and has very high regard for Seachem paraguard. It is safe and aids in many ways.
Luckily if parasitic, wild caught fish carry parasites that have not become immune to our medicines so its normally easy to solve.

I'm sorry that I cant be of more help. Sometimes a tank goes through a phase such as this and we treat fot things only to still suffer losses. Know though that when you get through it the fish you have will be the stronger ones, so your tank has 'improved'.

We could get Prof. Dirks opinion on this also?
Rgds

Marco

 

Hi yes it can not be singled out as dropsy even though symptoms sway that way, that is
why I would remove them to prevent contamination of other fish.

 

Hmm now i notice that all the dying tetras have a distinct red coloring under their anal area that looks like blood under the skin.

All the congo tetras have now died but the dwarf peacock rainbows have not died one and my ram and discus is still fine.

 

Hi
Jack

I have similar ailment in my tank and do not have an answer yet. I have always gone with not testing my tankwater. Tank has been running for about nine months now. Have tetra's (rummy nose, cardinals harlequin etc), clown, pakistani and zebra loaches. I also got fish from lfs about 2 weeks ago. I now have dead fish every 3rd or so day. Lost 2 clown loaches, almost all of 12 rummies, have 2 left of my cardinals of 12, one or two harlequins also gone. Really heartbreaking...
I must say we had temperatures that went sky high. My tank was 32.5 at one stage. Now managed to get it down to just under 30 degrees C.
Will then get (for the first time) a test kit soon.

Best of luck to you...

 

Hi guys and girls.

I have the same questions on Neons. My other fish is fine, but they(Neons) are dropping off one by one. I read the thread, and I am inclined to agree with the poor quality stock in shops. I just bought 10 more, from a reputable shop in neighbouring Potchefstroom, and will keep you posted if they go the same way.

Can we keep this thread alive tough? What is the ideal parameters for Neons?