New Cardinal Tetra's

[David J]

Hi

One week ago I added 7 lemon tetra to my cycled tank. They have been great with no problems at all. They have coloured up really well and seem confident and happy in their behaviour. Throughout the week I have been testing the water and all was good.

In light of this, yesterday, I added 7 Cardinal Tetra's. I did the usual acclimatisation etc and once they were in, like the Lemon Tetra, they hid away in a corner for a few hours but gradually starting coming out to adventure. About 5 hours after adding them, I found one on its side on the sand. It was still breathing and every now and then would start swimming but sadly eventually it died.

This morning, the remaining 6 seemed fine. They all looked healthy and were swimming around the tank happily. About an hour later I found another one dead. It was lying in its side on the sand. I fed the tank and everything ate. This was their first feeding in my tank for the cardinals.

It's sad that they died but I was expecting fatalities sooner or later. I have tested the water and ammonia and nitrite are zero with nitrate at around 4 or 5ppm.

I know neons and cardinals are quite sensitive and i don't think I've done anything wrong but thought I'd post this just in to see if anyone has any views or opinions on what's happened.

Thanks,

David.

 

[Mikey1]

is this a new tank?
 
even if its cycled, you should be adding fish slowly, your bacteria can not keep up with the bio load if you add alot of fish quickly
 
14 fish within a week is too fast

 

[Livewire88]

Hello,
 
Just to add to what Mikey has said, when my fishless cycle finished I added about 10 Cardinal Tetras and over the next 2 weeks they all died. I then caried out some reasearch and read that Cardinals do not do well in newly set up tanks even if the filter is fully cycled.
 
I then didnt add any more Cardinals for 3 months, then added around 30 over a period of a month (about 7-8 each week), since then I have only had 2 deaths, so what I am trying to say is that IME Cardinals like a mature tank and do not do well in new set ups.
 
And on a side note I keep mine in water with a PH level of 8.2, not ideal but they seem to be very bright and healthy and have grown huge.

 

[David J]

Hi

It is a new tank. Cycled for 6 weeks from boxing day and the lemon tetras went in 8 days ago. I had been given different advice from lots of different people on how to stock after a fishless cycle. Some said that I could fully stock the tank with confidence, others said I should stock gradually. In the end, most people were saying to stock gradually so that's what I decided to do. I was also advised on here that I could stock one species at a time as long as I left 1-2 weeks between adding new fish and also assuming the water tests came back clear.

Mikey1, refarding my bacteria not being able to cope with the bio load if I add fish too quickly, forgive me as I am a beginner but if my bacteria was processing 2.0ppm of ammonia and nitrites were clear after 12 hours during my cycle, and since adding the first 7 fish ammonia and nitrite have been zero every day, would that not suggest that my bacteria is coping?

Livewire88, thanks for the info. I will keep a close eye on the remaining 5. I wasn't intending on adding any more fish for another 2-3 weeks so this will be a good bit of time to see how things progress. Either way, I won't add anymore Cardinals for a long time.

I appreciate your replies guys.

David

 

[Mikey1]

Mikey1, refarding my bacteria not being able to cope with the bio load if I add fish too quickly, forgive me as I am a beginner but if my bacteria was processing 2.0ppm of ammonia and nitrites were clear after 12 hours during my cycle, and since adding the first 7 fish ammonia and nitrite have been zero every day, would that not suggest that my bacteria is coping?
 

 
 
test results are not always 100% accurate.....
 
even if they are, there are alot of things going on with your water that your test kit will never reveal....
 
i have been in this game/hobby for 25+ years, and in that time i have kept thousands of fish, and i can probably count the number of fish i have had die on my fingers....
 
to be honest i rarely ever test the water in any of my tanks....i might use my test kit twice a year....i am at the point where i can just go "by feel" and know whats happening, and know the water conditions.....
 
so without going into a big long scientific explanation, that you probably wouldnt understand anyway.....i will just say i still think this was caused by adding your fish too quickly.....but thats just my own jacka$$ opinion

 

[David J]

Everyone is entitled to an opinion. The thing I've found since researching fish keeping is that if you ask a question you get many different answers. It clearly isn't an exact science. There is someone else on this forum who advised they added 9 cardinal tetra right after cycling and none of them died. Some people on here tell me to go ahead and fully stock, some tell me to stock gradually. Of the ones that tell me gradually, some say add new fish every week, some say once a month. These opinions come from experienced fishkeepers such as yourself yet each opinion is different.

I, as a beginner, can only take the information I find and form my own opinion and it was my decision to stock this way.

 

[daizeUK]

Sorry to hear about your cardinals David.  I've also heard that some types of fish won't do well in an immature tank no matter how well it is cycled, so I think Livewire and Mikey are both bang on, that there must be things going on as the tank matures that we just can't see.  I wish you better luck with your next fish

 

[Mikey1]

Everyone is entitled to an opinion. The thing I've found since researching fish keeping is that if you ask a question you get many different answers. It clearly isn't an exact science. There is someone else on this forum who advised they added 9 cardinal tetra right after cycling and none of them died. Some people on here tell me to go ahead and fully stock, some tell me to stock gradually. Of the ones that tell me gradually, some say add new fish every week, some say once a month. These opinions come from experienced fishkeepers such as yourself yet each opinion is different.

I, as a beginner, can only take the information I find and form my own opinion and it was my decision to stock this way.

 
 
nothing in fishkeeping is really "set in stone" and there are no "blanket rules"....that is because every tank is different....and every fish is different....just like all people are different.....who knows? you might have just got a crappy batch of cardinals....
 
experience is the only thing that makes you good at something....you learn through experience....nobody becomes an expert overnight

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Sorry to hear about your losses David.  

 

[frapadoodle]

Aye, sorry to hear about the losses.
Yeah I have to agree with all that has been said so far. Could be a bad batch of fish, but also some fish just do better in a mature set up. Not only does the filter need to cycle, but there is a biofilm on everything in the tank.
Anyway don't give up.

 

[David J]

You may have read my post this morning in the emergencies section. Basically, this morning all of the cardinals have white spot plus one of them has its tail missing. Where the tail was is a pink fibrous area. Almost like cotton wool. Anyway, long story short, Maidenhead Aquatics offered to take them back and I have now returned them. They are treating them for white spot and the other fungal infection and reckon the tail might grow back.

So I think I'll leave cardinal tetras well alone for now, at least until my tank is more mature. The Lemon tetras look great still and appear happy and healthy which was another factor that helped me decide to return the cardinals. I guess this is another small step on the long road to being an experienced fishkeeper. I just wish the learning curve didn't involve dead and ill fish.

I won't be adding anymore for at least a week until I'm sure no issues show up on the lemons but I'm obviously now looking at different replacements. So far I'm thinking possibly glowlight tetra or harlequin rasbora.

David

 

[Mikey1]

i would wait another two weeks at least....
 
i would not do any water changes during this time, your bio load is very small right now

 

[DJH584]

David
 
I would be inclined to go with the harlequin rasbora as they are a fairly hardy fish and you will need a minimum of six.
They do have a great copper and dark blue/black colouring to them.
 
From another David

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I'd agree with Mike to wait two weeks...  
 
There are some very good rasboras species... Smaller ones are: Trigonostima espei, T. hengeli which I think are awesome.  I have the T. heteromorphas (Harlequin Rasboras).

 

[David J]

Hi folks

2 weeks sounds good to me. I have a window where I could get to the fish shop a week on Friday or the Saturday. That's 12 or 13 days so hopefully that'll do. I will use the time to research fish. Thanks for the recommendations on rasbora. Ill check them out.

Cheers

David