3 red eyed tetras dead

[eggie100]

I have a group of red eyed tetras mixed with other small tetras and harlequins.

Today, I found 3 red-eyes dead up my filter. I have an Eheim Aquaball inside the tank. If you're familiar with the Aquaball's design, you'll know that at the bottom of it, there's a small tunnel where water gets propelled in. I found all 3 red-eyed tetras in there. The tunnel is NOT exposed to anything dangerous like the propeller of the filter.

So why would 3 tetras get sucked up there all at once? All the fish were accounted for yesterday, so this happened quite recently. Did something scare them and they all went into this tunnel of the filter? Were they already dead and this filter just happen to suck up 3 fish? That just doesn't seem likely. I've since removed this sceondary filter as my Eheim Professionel II alone should be more than suffucient for this 26 gal tank.

Any thoughts on this would appreciated....and thanks in advanced.

 

[QTOFFER]

Sorry to hear about your loss. Were the redeyes all purchased at the same time? You may have just gotten a weak batch of fish. I would check your water parameters just to rule that out as a cause of death.
I'm almost certain that any fish found in a filter intake died beforehand and was sucked in.

Your Eheim 2026 ProII is more than enough filtration for a 29 gal - I have one on my 58 gal.

 

[Toirtis]

Sorry to hear about your loss. Were the redeyes all purchased at the same time? You may have just gotten a weak batch of fish. I would check your water parameters just to rule that out as a cause of death.
I'm almost certain that any fish found in a filter intake died beforehand and was sucked in.

Agreed...especially red-eyes, which are a very hardy tetra.

 

[eggie100]

Yes, I've bought most of these guys from the same shop and at the same time. I've had the red eyes for a few months now....they seem to be fine until yesterday.... i've got 4 more red eyes left, but they seem spooked and nervous. The other small inhabitants (rasboras, rummy-nosed tetras) are fine.

I'm stumped!

 

[QTOFFER]

If you had just acquired the fish a few days or weeks ago, I would have just chalked it up to a bad batch. That kind of thing happens to me from time to time - even with fish purchased from my most trusted and reliable lfs. Bad batch syndrome is frustrating, but it doesn't appear to be what you are experiencing now.

When I started my aquarium about 18 months ago, I bought the biggest tetra specimens I could find, thinking bigger = healthier. The fish lived happily for a few months and then all of a sudden, died one after another. I'm now convinced that I had purchased fish that were near the end of their natural lifespans - plus, I really had no idea how well they were treated before I bought them.

Now, I deliberately try to buy the smallest tetras I can find. I figure that I will be able to enjoy them longer. Plus, I have direct control over their water quality and diet during a portion of their lives when they are still growing and developing. I recently bought a school of redeyes that were about 1/2 inch long. They are thriving in quarrantine, and have grown 1/4 inch since I got them two weeks ago.

If your water parameters check out, and the other fish in the tank seem OK, I would blame your losses on old age and try getting younger fish next time.