Only Bosemani died?

[Cutty]

Hi all,

So I recently lost my school of 5 bosemani rainbowsfih and it has me perplexed.

Why? Because I can’t figure out why it only affected the bosemani and not the other types I have.

It all started when the largest bosemani died, and then in the ensuing three days - every other bosemani died.

All exhibited similar signs just before dying. Disinterest in food, colours all faded, and hanging towards the top of the tank.

I checked all the paramaters and couldn’t find an issue. And like I said, no other fish in my tank was affected - other rainbowfish, mollies, torpedo barbs, tetras etc.

I am trying to figure out why all the bosemani would die - yet not affect any other fish.

It is as if they all died in solidarity…

Can anyone shed light on this.

Very weird.

 

[Colin_T]

Any pictures?
Did they have stringy white poop or bloated belly?
How long did you have them for?

Did you do a water change before this happened?
What did you do in the tank 24 hours before this started?
What did you feed them?

They were either poisoned or had an internal infection. Rainbowfish regularly carry Fish Tuberculosis (Mycobacteria TB) and this normally causes one fish to die here and there. The most common symptoms include the fish swelling up overnight, breathing heavily at the surface or near a filter outlet, not eating, doing a stringy white poop, and dying within 24 hours of developing these symptoms.

There's no cure for fish tb

 

[Cutty]

No pictures sorry and I didn’t notice any change to their poop.
I only had them for about 4 months.
I did a water change after the first one died as I thought it could be due to an ammonia spike. All my fish in that tank are fed extreme krill flakes. It would be unusual for all 5 to die in quick succession from tb?

 

[Colin_T]

It would be unusual for all 5 to die in quick succession from tb?

Yes it would be unlikely to have 5 fish die of tb within a few days of each other. Poisoning would be a more likely cause if you lose a lot of fish at the same time or within a day or two.

Do you dechlorinate the new water before doing a water change?
rainbowfish are not able to tolerate chlorine or chloramine and will die quickly if exposed to this stuff.

Rainbowfish need plant matter in their diet. At least 50% of their diet should be plant based. You can put duckweed in the tank and feed them vege flakes in addition to their normal food.

 

[Cutty]

Always dehlorinate.

Again, why would this only affect one specific kind of rainbowfish.

 

[Avel1896]

Hey @Cutty and sorry for this loss.
How did you feed them, and how much ? I'm thinking of constipation.