4 Harlequin Rasbora Tetras DEAD

[jmpgop]

Well, I picked up 5 Harlequin Tetras Wednesday, today I only have one left. One by one that have each expired. The 5th one is still eating but isn't swimming around - just hangs out in the corner of the tank.

Water parameters are good (checked them all) except I know that my water is hard. When reading of this fish I knew they prefered acidic water, but I have also read many times that most fish will adapt.

Do ya'll think that my 8.4 ish PH killed them.? sigh sigh...

I'm going to be adding a canister filter to this tank where on my big tanks I can add some peat. Hopefully that'll soften it a bit so more species can survive.

Any thoughts?

Janelle

 

[iadubber]

how did you acclimate them?

 

[jmpgop]

I floated them in the water in their bag adding about 1/4 cup of the new every 1/2 hour over the period of 2 hours. Then scooped them out of the bag and added them in.

 

[lelouchzeta]

The same thing happened to me with neon tetras...I'm curious about why this happened as well. I had read something similar about their preference for soft water but I didn't know it could kill them so abruptly. I had pH 8.0 with fairly hard water established tank and everything.

 

[HN1]

One of two things IMO. Lack of acclimation or poor stock. Do you know how long they had been at the shop? You can always test the water from your LFS or ask them so that you know what conditions the fish were were kept in.

 

[jmpgop]

Well - I trust the LFS believe it or not. They're friends of mine in the pet industry with me - but they carry fish - I don't... They're good people and haven't done me wrong..... ahem.... yet... I asked how long he had them, he said 1 week.

I have 1 of 5 left and it'll be a week on Wednesday This one, if he doesn't kick the bucket tonight, it'll be tomorrow - I think... And now he's all alone too. So sad. Wish I could give him a hug or something and tell him I'm sorry ;(

I read a bit more about acclimating and even though I think I did a good job for a hardy fish; I think what I'll do next time I get new fish is float them in a bucket in their bag with tank water adding additional tank water to their bag THEN add them to the bucket, then scoop them and add them to the tank. Especially with these delicate fish - that I didn't know were soooooo delecate

But I'm also going to peat moss my two big tanks!

Thanks ya'll
These were my first of any kind of tetra. I had read about them but I guess I just didn't understand.

 

[HN1]

Even great shops get bad fish from wholesalers. It is fairly common unfortunately. Harlequin rasbora should do fine in a higher pH than some tetra would. Rasboras and tetra are similar in a lot of ways, but do they do come from different parts of the world and occupy different environs.

 

[jmpgop]

So the Harlequin Tetras and the Rasbora are not the same?

This is what I have (still one left - and he's being a trooper so we'll see).

Image Detail for - http://www.liveaquaria.com/images/categories/product/p-89920-harlequin.jpg

I will try again with these fish but I will acclimate much much slower.

 

[HN1]

That is a rasbora, not a tetra. They are different fish. Tetra are characins, rasbora are cyprinids.

Rasbora - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tetra - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[debisbooked]

The same thing happened to me with neon tetras...I'm curious about why this happened as well. I had read something similar about their preference for soft water but I didn't know it could kill them so abruptly. I had pH 8.0 with fairly hard water established tank and everything.

This has happened to me so many times with neons that I have developed a theory--however many neons you purchase, half will die soon after they are acclimated to your tank.