Lonely Cardinal Tetra

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Le Fishê

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So i have a 120L tank and i had 4 cardinal tetras, 3 of them unfortunately passed on and my remaining cardinal tetra started to hide and show weird behaviours. So i decided to buy some friends for it becaus eit was lonely and for some reason they gave me neon tetras. Everything is fine and the neons are schooling with the cardinal tetra and they are all happy i guess but the cardinal tetras is opening and shuting his mouth and he has a darker colour than before. What can i do to? Is it temporally? Because now it has a new school
 

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hmm, he looks rater vibrant. i am not sure, as i have no experience with tetras maybe check your air pump or filter to have more oxygen
The air pumps and filter are working fine and the cardinal tetra is the only one doing this, the rest are all fine. Do fish get diseases if they are alone? Because he is the only Cardinal Tetra and the rest of the school are Neon Tetras.
 
The air pumps and filter are working fine and the cardinal tetra is the only one doing this, the rest are all fine. Do fish get diseases if they are alone? Because he is the only Cardinal Tetra and the rest of the school are Neon Tetras.
no, the tetras may be bullying him? any fish behavior people here?
 
Does the cardinal tetra have small white spots on it?
It looks like it does in the picture.

If the fish has small white spots on the body, then it has white spot (Ich/ Ick). This is a protozoan parasite that affects the gills and covers the fish in small white spots. They eventually kill the fish if left untreated.

You can treat white spot by raising the water temperature to 30C (86F) and keeping it there for 2 weeks, or at least 1 week after all the spots have disappeared.

Before you raise the water temperature, do a 80-90% water change and gravel clean the substrate. This will dilute the number of disease organisms in the water and buy the fish some time.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise the oxygen level in the water.

--------------------
If the fish doesn't have white spots, then do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. Clean the filter, increase aeration and add some salt.

--------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
 
Does the cardinal tetra have small white spots on it?
It looks like it does in the picture.

If the fish has small white spots on the body, then it has white spot (Ich/ Ick). This is a protozoan parasite that affects the gills and covers the fish in small white spots. They eventually kill the fish if left untreated.

You can treat white spot by raising the water temperature to 30C (86F) and keeping it there for 2 weeks, or at least 1 week after all the spots have disappeared.

Before you raise the water temperature, do a 80-90% water change and gravel clean the substrate. This will dilute the number of disease organisms in the water and buy the fish some time.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise the oxygen level in the water.

--------------------
If the fish doesn't have white spots, then do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. Clean the filter, increase aeration and add some salt.

--------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
Oh damn, are you serious? Does it spread to other fish? And if I raise the temperature, will it kill other fish? because i have a dragon loach and it normally likes 25°C. And why did it get it?
 
If the fish has white spots on its body, and it looks like it does in the pictures, then it has white spot. It probably had white spot at the shop and you introduced it into your tank. It will spread to every fish in the tank if it is white spot.

You can raise the temp to 30C or use a chemical medication that contains Malachite Green or copper. However, Malachite Green is a carcinogen (causes cancer) and copper kills shrimp and snails. Both chemicals harm the fish to a degree. Heat is safer and is fine for most tropical fish.

Make sure you increase aeration/ surface turbulence when using heat or chemicals to maximise the oxygen in the water.

Do not use heat and chemicals at the same time because you will kill the fish. Either use heat or chemicals. Heat is the safest.
 
Does the cardinal tetra have small white spots on it?
It looks like it does in the picture.

If the fish has small white spots on the body, then it has white spot (Ich/ Ick). This is a protozoan parasite that affects the gills and covers the fish in small white spots. They eventually kill the fish if left untreated.

You can treat white spot by raising the water temperature to 30C (86F) and keeping it there for 2 weeks, or at least 1 week after all the spots have disappeared.

Before you raise the water temperature, do a 80-90% water change and gravel clean the substrate. This will dilute the number of disease organisms in the water and buy the fish some time.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise the oxygen level in the water.

--------------------
If the fish doesn't have white spots, then do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. Clean the filter, increase aeration and add some salt.

--------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
I have put the cardinal in a QT, when I see he has no more white spots i can release him into the tank?
 
If the fish has white spots on its body, and it looks like it does in the pictures, then it has white spot. It probably had white spot at the shop and you introduced it into your tank. It will spread to every fish in the tank if it is white spot.

You can raise the temp to 30C or use a chemical medication that contains Malachite Green or copper. However, Malachite Green is a carcinogen (causes cancer) and copper kills shrimp and snails. Both chemicals harm the fish to a degree. Heat is safer and is fine for most tropical fish.

Make sure you increase aeration/ surface turbulence when using heat or chemicals to maximise the oxygen in the water.

Do not use heat and chemicals at the same time because you will kill the fish. Either use heat or chemicals. Heat is the safest.
Oh I see, im going to raise the temperature and clean the gravel and water.
 
If the fish has white spots on its body, and it looks like it does in the pictures, then it has white spot. It probably had white spot at the shop and you introduced it into your tank. It will spread to every fish in the tank if it is white spot.

You can raise the temp to 30C or use a chemical medication that contains Malachite Green or copper. However, Malachite Green is a carcinogen (causes cancer) and copper kills shrimp and snails. Both chemicals harm the fish to a degree. Heat is safer and is fine for most tropical fish.

Make sure you increase aeration/ surface turbulence when using heat or chemicals to maximise the oxygen in the water.

Do not use heat and chemicals at the same time because you will kill the fish. Either use heat or chemicals. Heat is the safest.
Also I cant increase the arenation, would that be a problem?
 
I have put the cardinal in a QT, when I see he has no more white spots i can release him into the tank?
There is no point moving the cardinal tetra into a separate tank because the white spot is in the main tank now and all the fish need to be treated.

Also I cant increase the arenation, would that be a problem?
If you have an air operated filter (from an air pump), that should be sufficient.

If you have an internal power filter, raise it up so the outlet shoots across the surface of the water.

If you have a hang on the back (HOB) style power filter, reduce the water level by an inch so it splashes more.

If you have an external canister filter, have the outlet above the water surface so it splashes into the tank.

----------------------
The following link has information about white spot. Post #1 and post #16 are worth a read if you want to know more about the parasite.
 

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