Dieing Phantoms

[Phantom Menace]

Help I have a 190litre tank whith about 20 Neon Tetras, 2 Rosie Barbs, 1 Sucking Loache ( type unknown) and 4 (3 one has died while writing this message) Phantom Tetras. Two weeks ago we bought 5 Phantoms the net day one had gone white in front of its tail it looked like it had been damaged in traveling home it died the next day, did'nt worry to much, everything was fine in the tank. Two days ago we bought 4 more Phantoms we have lost all 4 in the last 3 days all gone the same way white patches appear somewhere on ther bodys and they die in a few hours. Sorry this is so long but can someone help quickly before all the Phantoms die. The rest of the fish seem fine. Treating with protozin didn't know what else to try.

 

[WILDER]

Can you post water stats in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate, and ph.
The white patches do they look slimey, bleached out, or fluffy.
Any signs of flicking and rubbing or laboured breathing.
What was the ph of the store to your tank, and how long did you climatise them for.

 

[Phantom Menace]

Don't know ammonia reading. No nitrate or nirite shown on testing. Ph unknown. Patches are bleached out no flicking or scratching they look distrest but breathing seems ok

 

[WILDER]

Do the white patches run along the back and come down the sides to form a saddle shape.
strange not to have a nitrate reading, what your tap nitrate reading, do you have live plants in the tank.

 

[Phantom Menace]

Just done a tap water reading it did not show any Nitrates we have done tests before on different tanks and got results. We have never had any reading on this tank. We do 20% water changes every 3 weeks and all has been well for the last three years. All our troubles have started with the Phantoms (we now only have 2 surviving they look OK at the moment).
The last 2 that have died had white heads and protruding eyes, previously patches have been on the body infront of the tail and on the lower body. Still none of the other fish in the tank have been affected.
Yes we have live plants which are thriving.

 

[WILDER]

Its sounding more bacterial now.
Should be doing a gravel vac and water change once a week not every three it's to long.
Has any of the tetras lost weight or had a bent spine.

 

[Phantom Menace]

Haven't lost any more still 2 Phantoms both look OK. The Neons look OK. We suspect now that the Phantoms may have had a bacterial infection when we bought them and the stress of bringing them home and into a new enviroment was too much. This is the first and last time we will buy fish from this shop. Have often looked and thought things weren't quite right but things seemed OK this time so we took the risk (fools). We will be getting new water testing kits so that next time we will be able to give you better information. Thank you for your help over the last few days.

 

[WILDER]

Ok, good luck.