Advice For A New Tank

Tory · Aug 30, 2009

Just thought id repost this for my iccle bro and give him a hand as hes new to the forum and fish keeping in general.

I know the mods removed it and put it in the emergency section, but it was more to have a discussion with and less of an emergency as such and has only had one reply in the other section. He has cycled his tank and done everything he should, and got his water tested.

So he went home with 5 cardinal tetras. the next morning, they were covered in white spot. Then after 36hrs from bringing them home, one was missing. It cant be in the filter because its too small for anything to get in there other than particles of dirt, he's pulled out all the rockery he built and nothing, its no where to be seen. Could the others have eaten it - and that quick??

Can anyone offer him any advice on the white spot and the missing fish?! Hes read that tetras can be prone to white spot on getting them home - although ive never had this problem with mine - although I dont have cardinals soooo who knows!

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Original message:

Hi all!

So approximately 24 hours after adding my Cardinal Tetra's to my tank they developed white spot.

10% water change, and added white spot control.

36 hours (morning) I checked the tank and one fish was missing, he had white spot all over him.

I have moved my cave and slate but could find no sign of him, could the other 4 Tetra's have eaten him?

The other four appear to be getting a better though which is good

Revan

saltynay · Aug 30, 2009

Tetras are quite sensitive and should only be added to a mature aquarium 2-3+ months old after cycling. Missing one could of been a jumper, fish also have a habit of getting in spaces you thought would be physically impossible one of my endler males got in a gap that was 2mm wide and 3mm long and thus got trapped in the filter unfortunately I found it a week later and it had wedged itself in an even smaller gap inside the filter still alive amazingly but through the course of trysing to get him out he became so stressed he died.

White spot is ich if you have no inverts then any brand ich treatment will do and add a little tea tree oil (2 drops per 10 gallons) or melafix (same thing but factory diluted with a few extra additives) and follow instructions on the back.

Tory · Aug 31, 2009

Thanks for that saltynay, no all hes got is the 4 cardinals - water level washt right at the top as he was originally gonna have turtles. Didnt even know that myself about tetras, he was gonna go for neons but had read cardinals were more hardy.

Will get him to check the filter and carry on with the meds

Anna Robinson · Aug 31, 2009

saltynay said:
add a little tea tree oil (2 drops per 10 gallons) or melafix (same thing but factory diluted with a few extra additives) and follow instructions on the back.

Melafix is not actually the same as adding Tea Tree oil to the tank. I wouldn't recommend that anyone add pure oil to their tank, as it can form a film over the surface and interfere with oxygen exchange. Melafix has emulsifiers added and processed with it, to ensure it mixes with the aquarium water. Don't try to make your own emulsifier, as many emulsifiers are toxic to fish.

Also, the Tea Tree oil that you buy in places like health food shops is not actually the active ingredient in Melafix - Melafix uses a different species of Melaleuca, which was found to be more effective on fish than M. alternifolia was. For optimum effect it also has to be the right strain, sourced from certain geographical areas.