Cardinal Tetras - One Dead

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nehpets81

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Yesterday I added 6 cardinal tetras to a cycled 80L tank containing 1 adult Guppy and about 20 Guppy fry (the biggest of which are the size of the cardinals)

Overnight one of the Cardinals died and I found it behind the filter. Today one of the Cadinals seems to be almost entirely missing its tail and another seems to have white raggedy edges on one fin and a tail.

I am frequently testing the water and it is consitently 0 Ammonia and Nitrites and 40ppm Nitrate (this is the levels in my tap water also). The ph is 7.4 and the water is hard. I realise that this is not ideal for the cardinals but apparently these have lived in the same tap water in the lfs so I was assured they would have no problems.

Despite the zero ammonia and nitrite readings I have done a 50% water change as a precaution. I don't think the Guppies are harming the Cardinals so I am wondering about a couple of things:

1. Could this be finrot? If so, can fin rot cause one fish to die and one to nearly lose it's tail in 24 hours?
2. The filter is a bit of a monster - It is a Jewel filter and is as tall as the tank. The guppies sometimes get stuck inside it if you can imagine such a thing. As I found the dead tetra behind the filter, could it have got stuck there? Could the filter have damaged the other tetra? The guppies don't seem to show any ill effects.


Any advice would be greatfuly received!
 
Did you examine the fish closely when you got them? That is way too fast for fin and tail rot to eat a whole tail away. The white edge on the one's fins does sound like fin rot though. They will nip each other a little, but I don't think they'd eat off a whole tail. I have noticed that whenever I buy a group of small tetras like that, if I lose any it's always the first day. Usually one fish. Usually it's because I trusted the fish store employee to net good fish, and he let a bad one in. From now on I'm going to be more observant of what they're netting. I've been keeping fish many years and nothing ticks me off more than getting a bad fish. Sorry, not familiar with that filter, so no help there. It does kind of sound like a beast though.
 
I did look at the fish before they went in, not really, really closely but I'm sure I would have noticed a whole tail missing, even on a fish this small! The fish that did get netted at the lfs were a bit of a mixed bag, though. There were some good looking brightly coloured ones that just wouldn't get into the net so we settled for some that were a little paler... I'll keep an eye on them over the weekend - would you recommend trying to treat for finrot or would I be better just waiting and watching for now?
 
EDIT: I just read the pinned thread about not advising medicating if you haven't actually seen or are sure of the problem. Please ignore my previous answer.
 
It does sound like finrot, but instead of medicating, try lots of good old fashioned water changes. If it's not finrot, it can't hurt and if it is, it can only help.
 

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