Cardinal Dropping Like Flies

[markandhisfish]

im in the process of changing my 4x2x2 to a planted discus tank , i rehomed all my other stock ,rescaped the tank and added 40 csrdinal tetras and 2 rams. all has been fine for a week or so but now all of a sudden the cardinals are dropping like flies , i lost 3 yesterday and 7 today . the rams however are positively thriving ,

the strange thing is there is no sign of ich in the cardinals the rams are doing very well , all test results are coming back fine

ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 10

colours of all fish are strong all fish feeding properly and active , but the cardinals just keep on dying with no logical explination .

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Are these newly bought Cardinals, mark?
If so, any idea how long the supplier had them before you bought them?
Does your supplier use the same(ish) water hardness, temperature and pH as your tank?
Were the Cardinals in the tank during the re-scaping?
How long was your method of acclimitising the Cardinals to the tank?

 

[markandhisfish]

cardinals have been in there for a week , they were not in there when i rescaped. they were just kept in local tap water at lfs , dont know how long they had had them for . i acclimatised them for about 45 minutes . i have been readin up and it seems cardinals are generally poor quality from a lot of scources these days , i really cant find any other reason as the notoriously delicate rams are so happy they look like they could be aboput to spawn!

 

[WILDER]

How many cardinals have you lost so far. As some tetra's don't travel so well.
What was the ph of the store to your tank.

Do any of the cardinals look pale or darker in colour.
Do the cardinals act listless and lethagic.
Any signs of darting, erratic swimming, excess mucas, flicking and rubbing, laboured breathing.
Do any of the cardinals look skinny or bloated.
What does it look like when they go to the toilet.

 

[markandhisfish]

i think i know what has happened. none dead today but it seems its all the new ones i added saturday that have been dying off , i rang the shop to ask how long they had had them in and it had only been a couple of days , so the extra stress of being moved again etc was probably too much .. its my own fault i was so excited by the sheer quality of the rams i had picked that i forgot to check.

all the ramaining fish are im pretty sure the existing batch that had been in the tank for a couple of weeks , all good strong bright colour , active ,feeding well, healthy looking poo etc .

i am happy that there is no problem with the water etc as the test results keep coming back perfect and the rams would of shown it by now , so im putting it down to a bad batch of cardinals bought too early after arriving at the shop .

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Glad to hear the Cardinals have stopped dying on a daily basis, mark. As I often say, I'm still learning lots, but I've read about always trying to not buy fish from LFS within two weeks of their arrival from a wholesaler to try and avoid multi-transport stress.

If you have a good rapport with your LFS, perhaps ask to reserve a batch for you to collect after a couple of weeks?

 

[markandhisfish]

im not going to bother ive still got around 20 or 30 left so still not a bad shoal .

 

[WILDER]

Poor things.
I agree if the fish don't get a chance to settle before the lfs sell them, the stress usually kills them.
R.I.P.

I agree with the poster try and reserve some for a few weeks. But most lfs want them out of the shop fast to make there money.

 

[markandhisfish]

i think i will leave it as it is , because i am adding a group of discus next weekend and with newly added cardinals being so prone to ich i dont think its worth the risk . i am still left with a shoal of 25 to 30 , no more deaths and all seems to be fine . so i feel its not worth risking upsetting the balance .

 

[`Peter]

glad the remaining cards are alright. How much do cards cost where you live? If I were to buy like 30 they would cost me $4 each amounting to $120 which is ridiculous lol.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Must get a bulk discount, surely?

 

[markandhisfish]

the 40 cost me a total of around 78 pounds

 

[crazychris]

the 40 cost me a total of around 78 pounds

Less than £2 each isn't bad at all.

 

[WILDER]

I would hold off buying more fish just yet.
Let your tank settle down, also to make sure the cardinals haven't fetched a desease into the tank.