Strange Deaths

[fish nutter]

hi everyone,

My rummynose tetras are dying, i think it is high PH - 7.8 - which is killing them. Someone at my LFS thought that was the case as well.

The first night i found one dead with big eyes, the second another with big eyes as well and the third night, same thing.

IS it MY PH that is causing these deaths?
IS it TO high for my rummynose Tetras to handle?

WHAT Should I DO?

Help is appreciated

Regards

Fish Nutter

 

[ellena]

What are your other water readings? Ammonia, nitrite etc.

 

[Harlequins]

Big eyes can also be popeye,this may be caused by bad water quality etc..

 

[grumpysteve]

Ph shouldn't be an issue, i doubt these are wild caught so they're much hardier and can handle varying water quality, plus they can't read so have no idea what the Ph should be in their tank
even if your Ph is drastically different from where you bought them, acclimatising them slowly will help them adjust.

as mentioned, what are the results for ammonia and nitrite? is the tank fully cycled? has anything in the tank changed? any new stock?

 

[fish nutter]

sorry for the late reply (different time zone as im from NZ)

My tank is mid-cycling and having problems - been fish-in cycling for about 4 months and stil have ammonia.

I started of with 10 rummynoses and i thought that it wasn't cycling fast enough because of an understocking. so i went and got 5 more rummynose tetras. i have had them for about a week now, and already 3 have died. i have been doing water tests regually and doing a 30% water change whenever ammonia gets above .25 ppm, i have had no troubles with the others.

WATER conditions:

PH 7.9 - 7.2 (varying due to time of day)

Temperature 26 roughly (bad thermometers)

Ammonia .20 (only ever gets this high because bacteria are colonizing slowly to food levels, and occasionally gets to .25 but i take care of that with a water change - 30%)

Nitrite has been 0 for EVER, within the whole 4 months of a attempted cycle there has been none ( i assume this is due to well established Nitrite - Nitrate bacteria)

Nitrate only ever gets to 5 ppm (this takes about a week, but by that time i do my weekly 30% water change wit gravel vac)

hope this answers all questions.

Thanks everyone and do not hesitate to point out where i am going wrong.

 

[Bignose]

I highly doubt pH is the issue. I would look for sign of disease (especially as from your story it sounds like you didn't quarantine). Any discolored spots? Especially white that look like grains of salt? Any flicking or darting? Are the gills inflamed and red?

The long cycle time seems off as well. A fish-in cycle should take 4 to maybe 6 weeks at most. 4 months is way too long. What kind of filtration are you running, and what kind of maintenance are you doing on your filter?

 

[fish nutter]

I highly doubt pH is the issue. I would look for sign of disease (especially as from your story it sounds like you didn't quarantine). Any discolored spots? Especially white that look like grains of salt? Any flicking or darting? Are the gills inflamed and red?

The long cycle time seems off as well. A fish-in cycle should take 4 to maybe 6 weeks at most. 4 months is way too long. What kind of filtration are you running, and what kind of maintenance are you doing on your filter?

Hi,

No i didn't quarantine, The Rummynoses do have red gills but not shure if that is part of there naturall colouring, They are slightly transparent however no white spots, they do fick and dart around. I have done no filter maintenance apart from a breif cleaning of the pipes (while doing this i made shure filter media was in tank water, they looked clean so didn't wash etc...) I have a Eheim pro 3 2073 external canister filter. i do have plenty of algae but clean that of with a weekly 30 % water change.

Thanks