mass fish death

[One_Trick_Pony]

i bought 20 cardiansl yesterday and now all have died, all other fish are fine, ammonia is 0 nitrites 0 and nitreast 20 ph 6.6

i have no idea why, went back to the lfs, and the tested the water as well, and came to the same conculsions, it was perfect, and also that there was no differnece in ph or anything form there water, so they are going to replcae them for me next week.

even stranger ever singel cardinal in there tanks were behaving noramlly, as where every other fish in my tank, rummy nose and panda cories

i am not sure that i now want cardinals i might see if i can go back to neons!

so basically does any body no what might have casued this disatser

cheers

otp


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[Bloo]

So sorry to hear but I don't have a clue. Considering your stats and that the other fish are all fine....
Can you speak to the shop you bought them from and see if they had problems with that batch ? and ask for a refund ?

 

[longhorn13]

i've heard they can be very fragile fish, but that's ridiculous. i guess i got lucky, i bought three and all three are still doing great. i'd give them another go (is the lfs replacing them for free?), a school that big would look great!

 

[One_Trick_Pony]

yeah the said they would as act of good will, cause all there cardinals are great

 

[longhorn13]

if you decide to give it another go, maybe you should just take half of them from the store and see how they do before getting the rest.

 

[One_Trick_Pony]

thats agin is just what he said, well he send he would first give me 5 and if they lasted a week or so he would give me the rest

 

[longhorn13]

i'd go for that then, i personally like cardinals better that neons

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

How long did you acclimatize them to the tank for and did you add all 20 of them at once? How long did it take to transport them from the lfs to getting them in your tank?

 

[digital_run]

A school of twenty would look great....Acclimation could have something to do with it...But a mass death like that you'd think that atleast one would survive it unless they were just thrown into a cold water tank. Maybe they were all just from a bad batch or their breeder is under par. Good luck with attempt #2

DR

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

If they had a long journey, not enough time being acclimatized to the tank and then all 20 of them dumped in the tank all at once and expected to sort themselves out, they could have all died from stress and it is posible as drastic as it sounds.

 

[One_Trick_Pony]

the journey mus have taken about 10mins back form teh store, and they were floated for a good hafl hour and then had samll amoutns of water added for teh next 20 mins or so

 

[jimbooo]

they are very sensitive to changes in light. not that that explains anything. i left my lights on till 4am by accident on friday so i blacked out the tank till 12 noon so they could rest. when i took the blanket off i immediatly switched all 4 tubes on :stupid: wow, every cardinal was completly transparrent, like a glass cat. they did all recover but bear in mind mine have been in there a year. it was a bit touch and go for a while.

next time black out the tank after you put them in and leave them in the dark for a few hours, then remove the blanket and DONT turn the lights on for another hour or so. this should reduce the stress of moving them.

sorry i know thats a little off topic but may help.

 

[Hayley]

How big is your aquarium??

I personally would be very reluctant to add so many cardinals all at once. They are at best a fragile tetra to keep and your system would need time to adjust to the increased bioload even if it is fully cycled. I think that taking the first five and seeing how they go is an excellent plan, although I would suggest taking the remaining 15 in groups of five as well to slowly increase the number of fish in your tank instead of just quadrupling it in one go.

You might also consider lowering the pH of your aquarium and ensuring that the water is very soft. I have successfully kept and bred (not a huge amount of success with the fry but that is another story) cardinal tetra in 27 - 28 degree water with a pH around the 6 mark (5.6 - 6.2)

Good luck with the cardinals they are very beautiful fish.