bwc_nothgiel
Aquarium Advice Newbie
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2022
- Messages
- 3
Hello - I recently ordered 10 green neon tetras from Aqua Huna to be put in my planted 20 gallon tank, and to my dismay they have been dying about one or two each day.
Over the course of around a week I am currently down to three left. Some seemed to have passed rapidly and I've only discovered them at the bottom of the tank. Others have had what appeared to be swim bladder issues, they couldn't quite navigate accurately, and eventually deteriorated to sinking to the bottom with little movement, and then expiring. The last had it much worse where they were swimming extremely erratically in a corkscrew pattern with essentially zero coordination. For each fish I found not doing well, I separated them in a small make shift quarantine tank to hopefully destress them, but in each case they passed away, even with mixing in new clean treated water in the last couple. The fish first appeared fine, these symptoms appeared to come from out of the blue. The fish are around a half inch in length.
Unfortunately my tank hasn't made a full cycle. When I first added the fish, I also dosed the tank with FritzZyme 7 and thought that would be a safe jumpstart, a mistake I now realize after heavy research. I have been testing the tank a ton and the parameters have not changed from these:
Temp: 78 deg F
ph: 6.8 - 7.0
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0-10ppm
Chlorine: 0 mg/L
GH: ~75 mg/L
TAL: ~40-80 mg/L
KH: ~40 mg/L
I've made a few 25% water changes just in case to rely on the dechlorinator to detoxify the water, but it hasn't appeared to help. I am stumped now as I have always measured zero ammonia and nitrite. Aren't those the problem chemicals in an uncycled tank? I wonder if the health issues were there already in the suppliers care? The corkscrew swimming behavior sounds a lot like whirling disease. My other hunch is the tropical flake I am feeding is causing them to bloat, starting today I will try fast them a few days.
I am gutted by the loss of these fish. I will keep fighting for those still left. I am open to any ideas to save them!
Over the course of around a week I am currently down to three left. Some seemed to have passed rapidly and I've only discovered them at the bottom of the tank. Others have had what appeared to be swim bladder issues, they couldn't quite navigate accurately, and eventually deteriorated to sinking to the bottom with little movement, and then expiring. The last had it much worse where they were swimming extremely erratically in a corkscrew pattern with essentially zero coordination. For each fish I found not doing well, I separated them in a small make shift quarantine tank to hopefully destress them, but in each case they passed away, even with mixing in new clean treated water in the last couple. The fish first appeared fine, these symptoms appeared to come from out of the blue. The fish are around a half inch in length.
Unfortunately my tank hasn't made a full cycle. When I first added the fish, I also dosed the tank with FritzZyme 7 and thought that would be a safe jumpstart, a mistake I now realize after heavy research. I have been testing the tank a ton and the parameters have not changed from these:
Temp: 78 deg F
ph: 6.8 - 7.0
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0-10ppm
Chlorine: 0 mg/L
GH: ~75 mg/L
TAL: ~40-80 mg/L
KH: ~40 mg/L
I've made a few 25% water changes just in case to rely on the dechlorinator to detoxify the water, but it hasn't appeared to help. I am stumped now as I have always measured zero ammonia and nitrite. Aren't those the problem chemicals in an uncycled tank? I wonder if the health issues were there already in the suppliers care? The corkscrew swimming behavior sounds a lot like whirling disease. My other hunch is the tropical flake I am feeding is causing them to bloat, starting today I will try fast them a few days.
I am gutted by the loss of these fish. I will keep fighting for those still left. I am open to any ideas to save them!