Cardinals Dying! Please Help!

Sabot

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Hey all...

So I've tried my hand at cardinals for the 4th time yesterday.... I'm already having problems. =/ (I lost one this morning... was fine, then all of a sudden looked like he went into shock, and died... very abruptly.)

I have a well planted 29gallon tank, with a variety of non-agressive tetras, rainbows, and a small angel, etc. Every time I add cardinals, the same exact thing happens. They go in fine, and the next day 1 is dead. 1 more dies every day until they are gone!

BUT... I've had ONE single cardinal survive... this one has grown to full size now, and has been in the tank for about 2 months with no problems. Cardinals before and after have all died. (no other fish deaths at all)

The water pH = 6.5, there's no ammonia, the water is 2/3 distilled, so fairly soft water, I'll have to check the nitrates again, but my guess is they are negligable since I have other s :no: ensitive fish (hatchets, rummy noses, x-ray cats, etc) that all do fine in the tank. I thought it was in the introduction period, but I've been so gentle with them, and after they came up to temperature, I slowly kept adding my fish tank water to the specimen container they were in so they would acclimate. I just dont know what else to do.

Of all the fish I wanted to keep when I set up this tank, the cardinals were the top of my list and I just cant keep them alive!!! Its starting to get pricy at 2.50 a fish and I've gone through 20 so far. =/ Poor fish.

Can anyone help... I still have 4 more new guys in there... I don't want them to end up the same way. (I should say they color up almost immediately, they are all swimming fine, looking healthy.. no discolorations spots, etc. Then one will get the shimmies ... within an hour he'll be dead.)


Sorry that was long, but at least its fairly descriptive.

Thanks for your help!

Mike
 
Hi Mike! :)

2.50 a fish, is that £s??

Anyhow, something worth thinking about, they are natural prey to Angels. Could this be the problem? If your tank has been established for six months or more, and your water parameters are fine, I would say the Angel, or a bad supplier of weak stock Cardinals. It might also be worth checking if your water supplier have added anything during the periods you were introducing the fish...
 
Actually I just added the angel a week ago and its still very small.... I figure that may be a problem later though. I am quite concerned it may be the supplier. They are the only fish store in a 50 mile radius that carries cardinals, and they sell them out as soon as they get them. This means that as soon as they come in, I have to buy them. 2 moves in 2 days probably isn't healthy =/

-Mike
 
You need to find yourself a better LFS, or order them off of the internet.
 
What are the conditions in the lfs cardinals tanks? if the ph etc is avstly different it could be this that is killing them
 

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