Have lost some fish

Hey guys, over the last 4-5 months or so I have lost some fish from a planted tank and I was wondering if you guys might know what caused it?

The tank currently holds some cardinal tetras, some coral red pencilfish, ottos, 1 apisto and some flying foxes. I have lost 4 coral red pencilfish and some cardinal tetras, which also had some curvature of the spine when I found their bodies, so I have made my water changes 50% rainwater and 50% tapwater after instruction to try and help combat the spine issues (which looks to have succeeded). The parameters are good, ammonia 0ppm, Nitrite 0ppm, Nitrate 5ppm, Ph 7 and stable, Kh 5 degrees, temp 27 and stable. Everyone still in the tank is eating well and appears to be in good health but I just wanted to make sure that I don't lose any new additions to the tank because those coral reds are pretty pricey.

Do you guys have any idea what might have caused the fish deaths or could the fish have been carrying something before I purchased them?

Thanks for your help.

Regards, Luke.

Did you find before they died they were somewhat reclusive or hanging around close to the surface?

Thanks for your reply. Apart from my cardinals which are still hard to find today hiding amongst the plants, none of the crook fish were hanging close to the surface until I found their dead bodies floating at the top. Just the curved spines in alot of my smaller fish.

My fish contorted when i lost heaps of fish with a fungal thing but i lost like 30 in 3 days.

Has the substrate been disturbed at anytime which might of caused an ammonia spike? Fish werent bloated?

Nah mate, not enough to cause an ammonia spike.

Hopefully someone with more experience will be able to assist you

Could be tuburculoses/tuberculosis not sure how which is right ( I think it's very rare though ) or it could be tetra disease.

I've read about them years ago so I'm not really sure what's been written about it these days.

Google both and see what comes up

Hi all,

Could be tuberculosis

Click to expand...

That was my first thought as well, look for images of Mycobacterium marinum.

A nematode worm, like Camallanus would be another possibility.

cheers Darrel

Curved spines in guppies and such is a result of water with not enough calcium in it which is usually RO or rainwater. Its difficult to maintain a low pH and have enough calcium in without pushing the pH and TDS up.

I have lately been adding Aquasonic Amazon Water Conditioner in the hopes that some of the minerals they need are in it and also a pinch or two of bi-carb (only enough to maintain pH at what I want it at).

I would keep an eye on the flyingfoxes as they could be very active at night when the other fish are sleeping. Frightening the little fish could make them dart out of the water and whack their heads on the glass lids.

If you are worried about parasites Sykes Big L pig and poultry wormer at 1ml per 7ltrs gets rid of some of the nasties in worms and acts as a tonic to fish. Very safe to use even for fry.

Yeah I know... pig and poultry. I did ask them when they were going to re-label some of it for fishes and they assured me its on their to-do list.

Cheers for replying. I guess lots of things are possible but after researching neon tetra disease a bit, I think that looks like the most likely sickness because the cardinals also had some fin damage too, which is another symptom of it. Although apparently (after doing a bit of reading) cardinal tetras don't get this disease, which is a bit confusing.

I use aquasonic carbonate hardness generator also which I'm hoping will add some hardness and provide a few minerals too, along with the tap water.

With the 2 flying foxes, I plan on moving 1 of them to another tank pretty soon which hopefully will make my planted tank a bit quieter aswell.

Is it true that Cardinal Tetras can't get Neon tetra Disease? This source seems to think so...

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/neondisease.htm

dw1305 said:

Hi all,
That was my first thought as well, look for images of Mycobacterium marinum.

A nematode worm, like Camallanus would be another possibility.

cheers Darrel

Click to expand...

with Camallanus the fish usually have tiny red worms hanging from there bum from memory

Hi all,

with Camallanus the fish usually have tiny red worms hanging from there bum from memory

Click to expand...

They do, but that is only right at the end, when the numbers have grown enormously and there is no room for them in the intestine. The worms are actually colourless, the red colour is the fishes blood.

A lot of fish succumb before the worms appear.

cheers Darrel

from memory i used nilverm a pig and poultry wormer to treat Camallanus as different places carry different drugs...

Ok thanks guys I'll keep an eye out for the signs and the pig and poultry wormer if it looks like Camallanus is the problem.

try discus wormer, I herd its very good to use with plecos