Help: Rummynose tetra (possible injury)

[piratesthatpwn]

After finishing a water change, I noticed one of my Rummy nose was swimming upside down. I also noticed the bottom portion of his head on the gills is very red . Almost looks like he is bleeding internally. I will upload several pictures. I have quarantined him into a 5 gallon bucket. Please let me know if it is just an unfortunate head injury or something more serious and possibly deadly to the other members of the community tank. I.E. a disease.

1~What type of fish is afflicted? Rummy Nose Tetra

2~What are your tank parameters

ammonia: .5 ppm
nitrites: 0 ppm
nitrates: 0 ppm
temp: 76
pH: 7.6


3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up?
45 gallons for about 4 years.

4~What type of filtration are you using? EHEIM Classic 250 External Canister Filter 2213. 116 gph

5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes? 1 Koi Angel, 5 Rummy Nose Tetra, 5 Harlequin Rasbora, 2 False Julii Cory Cats. All grown full adults.

6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time? 30 minutes ago. I do once a week water changes. I have sand that I vacuum. I remove 1/4 of the water.

7~How long have you had the fish? 4 Years

8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.? No

9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently? I feed them Omega One freshwater flakes and New Life Spectrum community fish pellets. No changes in diet.

 

[piratesthatpwn]

Attaching my chemical test.

 

[swedishxfish]

Rummy nose tetra should ideally have a bright red head. When they start to lose their color, that's how many fish keepers know something is wrong in their water quality. They are a very sensitive fish and not very hardy.

That being said, your ph is very high for rummy nose tetra. They like their water slightly acidic and soft, so 5.5-6.8 or 7 are ideal. Your water at 7.6 is very alkaline! You should also try to get your ammonia to 0.

If it is a water quality issue, which I suspect it is, then I'd imagine all of your rummy nose tetra would exhibit bad signs. Swimming upside down right after a water change also makes me wonder if perhaps he got caught in the current too strong when you refilled the water? But it is most likely the ph and ammonia. Hope that helps!

 

[jessipanda]

I doubt it's the pH, but possibly...I've had 15 rummynose in my 55g community tank for a few months now with a pH of 7.6, but I drip acclimated them. Haven't lost a single fish. Had one that acted strange and lost it's black tail stripes for a few days weeks ago, but it made a full recovery.

Honestly though, this sounds like something else...most likely ammonia poisoning TBH. I could easily be wrong though. :/

 

[Delapool]

Kind of puzzled on 0 nitrates reading.

 

[jessipanda]

True...especially if it's been up and running for 4 years. An ammonia spike and lack of nitrates suggests all BB may have been killed off by something maybe? Have you medicated the tank or replaced all filter media recently? Should be nitrates is a tank that old

 

[Delapool]

Those are good points. Something odd there.

We had one instance here on the east coast over summer where faulty readings were tracked back to the caps were being left off the test solution bottles in really hot weather.