I'm losing fish....what am I doing wrong?

[yohann976]

I've been keeping fish for about eight years now. I have never lost a fish, except a discus once (intestinal blockage). Now my cardinal tetras are dieing like its in style.

First of all, I will admit that I made that mistake of purchasing too many fish all at once but my planted tank was well established. Yesterday, I purchased 6 zebra danios, 6 glow-light tetras, and 10 cardinal tetras. Throughout the day, I have been testing the water parameter and they all seem normal in my 75 gallon tank.

Ammonia- 0
Nitrate- 10 (for the plants)
Nitrite- 0
pH- 7.2

I know that the pH is a little high considering they like the acidic water and I have hard water. But I have another tank with cardinal tetras and they have been doing great over the past year. All the other fish are doing great, even the glow-light tetras. Any thoughts as to what I have done wrong? Seven cardinal tetras have died so far!!!

 

[rich311k]

sounds like a bad batch of fish to me.

 

[Zagz]

Your parameters seem good. Your ph is fine as long as it is stable. I'd have to agree with Rich, it sounds like a bad batch from the lfs.

 

[yohann976]

I certainly hope that it could be a 'bad batch' rather than something else wrong. I have been taking out the dead fish immediately after they die. I think that I'll take the remaining cardinal tetras and put them in my quarantine tank just in case they have a disease.

 

[Devilishturtles]

I agree, it sounds like they may have been doomed from the start. It does happen. I hope you can return them to the store.