Cardinal Tetras Dying One By One :(

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imzkola

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hi to all,

I bought 12 cardinal tetras 3 days ago from my LFS. since then they have been dying for no apparent reason. they all swim fine and have full colouration. they dont seem to have any issues other then they don't swim together since a lot of them have died. i am now left with 4 cardinals and since 12oclock this afternoon i had six. i found one dying earliar, it just started swimming eratically around the tank with no control whatsoever, the same with the one that i found dying yesterday. the rest have just died overnight.

my german blue rams seem to be doing ok other then fighting with eachother.

before 3 days i had goldfish in my tank for about 2months just for cycling purposes, i then turn the temp up and put in the the new fish which were the GBRs and 12 cardinals.

my water parameters are

Ammonia = 0ppm
Nitrite = 0ppm
Nitrate = 10ppm
ph = 6.6 - 6.8
temp = 28C

I would really appreciate if anybody could help me?
 
how did you add them into your tank? I take it you declorinated your water too. All your stats are good.
 
how did you add them into your tank? I take it you declorinated your water too. All your stats are good.

I floated the bag for 10 minutes, added abit of tank water, waited another 10 minutes and then added some more tank water. After another 10 minutes emptied fish in to a net and added fish into the tank. And yeah my tap water is treated before adding to tank.

is there something im doing wrong?
 
Sounds ok but I would have had more than two rounds of adding tank water tbh. I usually add it every 5 mins for half an hour. Are there no other symptoms?
 
nothing at all. they are not swimming together at the moment, they are just scattered all over the tank. could that be a sign of stress?

other then that they all seem ok.

and even if i hadnt acclimatised them aswel as i should have, it wouldnt cause the deaths over three days would it? for example since last night i have lost 4. and two since this morning. :S

i have even asked quite a few people for advice and they dont seem to know what the problem is.

could it just be a bad batch of cardinals from the lfs?
 
Tbh I donn't know what's wrong with them. If you are unhappy you could take them back. Get some different ones?
 
I would take them back along with a sample of your tank water and say they're dropping like flies and you're not happy. Your tank stats are all good so if they wanna say your tank water is bad let them test it and see. You've done everything right, you aclimatised them, your tank is cycled and amonia and nitrite free. It's only the cardinals that are dying not your other fish. So I'd take them back.

What you can do is go in first and explain and if you haven't got bags to bag em up they can give you some. Most lfs should be happy to take them back and test tank water. That's what I'd do.

If you get more aclimatise for a bit longer maybe even an hour and add water every 5 minutes bit by bit. Btw my cardinals don't lways swim rtogether either, at the mo they are scattered about.
 
Yes definetly been cycled.

your most likely right about it not being a bad batch, i just would really like to know what is happening to these fish! or if i am doing something really wrong.

maybe getting rid of the goldfish and straight away putting temperature up and then putting in cardinals wasnt a good idea?
 
Minus goldfish is good

Temp up is good

What temp was it when cardies whent in
 
I would take them back along with a sample of your tank water and say they're dropping like flies and you're not happy. Your tank stats are all good so if they wanna say your tank water is bad let them test it and see. You've done everything right, you aclimatised them, your tank is cycled and amonia and nitrite free. It's only the cardinals that are dying not your other fish. So I'd take them back.

What you can do is go in first and explain and if you haven't got bags to bag em up they can give you some. Most lfs should be happy to take them back and test tank water. That's what I'd do.

If you get more aclimatise for a bit longer maybe even an hour and add water every 5 minutes bit by bit. Btw my cardinals don't lways swim rtogether either, at the mo they are scattered about.

the problem is with taking them back is that they LFS wants you to bring back the dead fish, and i havnt got the dead fish anymore. it's not even that i want my money back. i would really just like to know if there was something wrong in my tank

thanks alot for your help guys. do really appreciate it.
 
Yeah that's ok just expalin that you may lose the money on the dead ones but I'd still take the rest that are alive back.
 

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