Help! 3 tetras dead!

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Platiesareawesome

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
May 17, 2013
Messages
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Location
Orange County, CA
Hello! I have a 10 gallon tank that had 3 platies, 3 ember tetras, and a cherry shrimp. My tank is located at my dad's house, and I am there about 50% of the time, so my dad has to feed the fish and make sure they are doing ok.

Today I am at my Dad's house, and I find two ember tetras stuck on the filter intake, and one lying in the corner, all a pale milky white color, and DEAD!!! My three platies are fine, but they seem to have lost a bit of their color, and they are staying at the bottom of the tank, not zipping around, playing with each other as normal. My shrimp was less active also. I also had 4 platy fry. Now I can only find 1 and it acts like the others.

My tank is planted and I noticed my crypts were less colorful, and had darker green and slightly transparent, spots all over their leafs. The leafs seemed to be curled up also. My java ferns looked browner than usual and their are small holes and tears on them.

I was shocked by all of this, and Immediately tested my parameters:

PH: 8.2-8.4
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5-10

I think there are 5 possibilities of what caused all this:

1. I recently added a heater
2. I recently started using Seachem flourish comprehensive
3. I recently added more plants
4. Last Wednesday, I wasn't at my dad's house to do a water change as normal, so I had to do it Sunday.
5. My dad did something to the tank accidentally

Also, I'm going to be in Wyoming for 7 days tomorrow. I can't do a water change because I'm leaving to go to the airport at 5:00 a.m. Will this cause a problem?

Thank you!
 
Sounds like It could be a disease, any signs if one?
Also, the plants need ferts, all that leads to lack of nutrients
Sounds like your ph is a little high, try aiming towards 6-7
 
Also, shouldn't be a problem, do a 50% water change
And what did your dad do to the tank exactly
 
#3 seems like the most likely cause, though #4 could be it too.

Plants can carry disease with them into new tanks...that's how I caught columnaris the first 2 times I had. Not saying it's columnaris that you have, just that it's possible something traveled with the plants. Did your dad notice the fish acting weird/sluggish/anything before they died?

I'd say #4 is a very slight possibility, but if something was wrong with the water quality you would have noticed something in the tests.

Oh, the heater option is another one, but they should have died within a day of you adding it if that was the problem considering increasing the temp too fast is really the only issue that a heater can cause unless it malfunctions, but if it did then you would have noticed that the temp was too high or low from where you set it originally
 
Also, shouldn't be a problem, do a 50% water change
And what did your dad do to the tank exactly

Nothing, I just thought it's possible that he did something to it accidentally because he knows just about nothing when it comes to fish! Lol! So The tank has gone 3 days without a water change. I'll be gone for 7-8 days. Is it okay to go 10-11 days without a water change? I'll do a 50% (like you said) when I get back.
 
#3 seems like the most likely cause, though #4 could be it too.

Plants can carry disease with them into new tanks...that's how I caught columnaris the first 2 times I had. Not saying it's columnaris that you have, just that it's possible something traveled with the plants. Did your dad notice the fish acting weird/sluggish/anything before they died?

I'd say #4 is a very slight possibility, but if something was wrong with the water quality you would have noticed something in the tests.

Oh, the heater option is another one, but they should have died within a day of you adding it if that was the problem considering increasing the temp too fast is really the only issue that a heater can cause unless it malfunctions, but if it did then you would have noticed that the temp was too high or low from where you set it originally

Well my thermometer is crappy, so I didn't see any problems with the temperature. I bet your right about the plants. Thank you both btw!
 
Do a water change, and oohitsae could be right about the disease and plants, that's why I was asking for disease
Man, 11 days is a lot, your dad can't do a water change? If not doing 50% should be fine, but do a 50% when you get back too
 
It depends on if you think these are both related or not.

If they are in fact both related then probably 1 or 5 would be the reason. The heater could have potentially overheated the tank for a short time or your dad could have done something to it.

Looking at these things as 2 separate occurrences then the potential problems branch out.

Holes in the leaves of plants usually mean a nutrient deficiency so that most likely points to an under dose of the seachem fert.

Missing a water change by a few days isn't going to hurt anything. Even assuming that there was an ammonia spike deadly enough to hurt the fish the nitrates would have risen to show that.

I don't see plants being added as a common cause of fish loss. Most plants being sold for aquarium use are grown emersed in fishless set ups. There just won't be the same diseases present in these plants. If you bought them from another aquarist however that is a possibility.

It is also strange that whatever is the problem is effecting the shrimp as well. It really points to a contaminant in the water more than anything since bacterial issues wont be a problem with shrimp 99% of the time.
 
It depends on if you think these are both related or not.

If they are in fact both related then probably 1 or 5 would be the reason. The heater could have potentially overheated the tank for a short time or your dad could have done something to it.

Looking at these things as 2 separate occurrences then the potential problems branch out.

Holes in the leaves of plants usually mean a nutrient deficiency so that most likely points to an under dose of the seachem fert.

Missing a water change by a few days isn't going to hurt anything. Even assuming that there was an ammonia spike deadly enough to hurt the fish the nitrates would have risen to show that.

I don't see plants being added as a common cause of fish loss. Most plants being sold for aquarium use are grown emersed in fishless set ups. There just won't be the same diseases present in these plants. If you bought them from another aquarist however that is a possibility.

+1 I agree add more ferts
Sometimes plants can carry disease, rare, but can happen
 
Almost 2 weeks, I like to do the 50% thing when I leave and come back from a 2 week trip, when I go to Spain for the summer though, I get my aunt to do it for me
 
If 8.2-8.4 is your normal (usual) ph range then don't mess with it.
Embers are difficult to feed as they have tiny mouths and are not as bold as platies. Do you think they might have been underfed as a result?
I agree that your nitrates are low enough that you don't have to worry about missing the water change- especially with the stock level you have.
Remind your dad to feed less than usual and only once a day while you're gone.
Have fun away! :)
 
If 8.2-8.4 is your normal (usual) ph range then don't mess with it.
Embers are difficult to feed as they have tiny mouths and are not as bold as platies. Do you think they might have been underfed as a result?
I agree that your nitrates are low enough that you don't have to worry about missing the water change- especially with the stock level you have.
Remind your dad to feed less than usual and only once a day while you're gone.
Have fun away! :)

Yes 8.2-8.4 is normal. I crushed up some pellets to give to the embers so they could fit it in their mouths. I don't know what could have caused this. As for my plants, if I continue to dose fertilizer, willI see results soon? What I found odd was that my crypt seemed to be doing great, A bright green color and it had grown much bigger than when I first got it. Now it looks horrible. (This is the crypt I first planted, not the one recently planted).
 
You will possibly see results soon but being gone for 11 days I would suggest cutting back on fert usage a little bit while you're gone.
 
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