Sudden Death Of Cardinal Tetras

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Smurf

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Uf! Three dead cardinal tetras within a week....

Have been a bit lax with the water changes lately (moved house a couple of months ago and it will have been the water that went in on day one) and on testing (after the first death) the nitrates were high (around 80) and the PH was 8-8.5 (natural tap water is 7 (I checked) but it is Thames Valley so is about as hard as you can get). Also changed the caked up filter floss (ahem...) :blush:

I've done a couple of 40%+ water changes over the last 2-3 days and replaced my heater that seemed to be on the blink as I was getting widely varying temperatures from barely registering on the gauge up to 28! Its been settled around the 24-26 degrees for a week now so I think I've fixed that wee problem!

The tank is just under 40l and I'm looking to re-stock but with what? Dyson (the BN plec) seems absolutely fine, as does FQP (fish of questionable parentage; think it might be a platy: the only survivor from the 20-odd surprise fry....).

The cardinals had been doing fine and I'd like to replace them but not sure if the tap water in the new house is OK as a starting point? I suspect the build up of nitrates raised the PH but seems quite rapid - would more frequent water changes resolve the rise? Or do I go for neons that might tolerate the higher PH? Or something else? Open to ideas... would ilke a bit of movement and colour. Dyson's great (and bright yellow) but does tend to lurk under the boxwood most of the time! FQP is murky brown and really not very interesting at all but don't tell him I said that :hey:

Merry Belated Christmas!
Daisy
 
The Cardinal tetra is more sensitive than the Neon tetra when it comes to water quality. The Cardinal tetra is particularly sensitive to nitrate and does not do well above a ph 6.8 but can adjust slightly. The lack of water changes prob was the biggest factor
 
As al said cardinals are very sensitive to nitrate I do 2 x 25% changes a week on my cardinal tanks. They are a lot more delicate than a lot of people think
 
The Cardinal tetra is more sensitive than the Neon tetra when it comes to water quality. The Cardinal tetra is particularly sensitive to nitrate and does not do well above a ph 6.8 but can adjust slightly. The lack of water changes prob was the biggest factor


I have a school of 16 cardinals that are breeding like mad & very happy in a water Ph of 7.8 > 8. I have kept neons without sucsess in such water so not to sure where you get that info from.


Tom
 
cardinals in the wild are found in acidic conditions... very low PH. Cardinals are very hard to get to spawn in aquariums so that is some achievement especially with such a high PH.

Jay
 
The Cardinal tetra is more sensitive than the Neon tetra when it comes to water quality. The Cardinal tetra is particularly sensitive to nitrate and does not do well above a ph 6.8 but can adjust slightly. The lack of water changes prob was the biggest factor


I have a school of 16 cardinals that are breeding like mad & very happy in a water Ph of 7.8 > 8. I have kept neons without sucsess in such water so not to sure where you get that info from.


Tom

yep defo good job, pretty common on all care sheets for them but then again most fish can live in higher ph within reason :good:
 

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