Animalsrule912
Aquarium Advice Newbie
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2014
- Messages
- 2
ok, so the story starts with 4 haitian livebearers i had gotten from a breeder and 2 fry being moved into a cycled (i am quite sure it was cycled because i put filter media from the old tank into the filter and waited a week) 10 gallon aqarium from a smaller one that they admittedly shouldn't have been in (it was one of those planted tank kits).
After a few days both fry disappeared, and even though i felt guilty i figured that they had succumbed to stress. Nothing else happened from several more weeks, until i introduced 5 store-bought bloodfin tetras. They did ok for a few days until one began to look deformed and soon died. I thought that maybe it was a weak one, or getting picked on by the other fish, but sure enough every month or so each of the tetras died off one by one. I suspected fish TB, but it seemed strange that only the tetras were dying.
For a while it was only the 4 haitian livebearers until they began dying off too. for some time, a pair of them lived until the male died yesterday. Now only a female remains as the lone survivor. Although i wouldn't be surprised if she died randomly too. I tried to rationalize that the bloodfins were weak stock and the haitian livebearers were old (I have had them for a few years; they dont produce fry anymore because they are infertile), but it's all too much of a coincidence.
Fish TB or some other disease is a possibility, especially since the brunt of this has occured after introducing the tetras, but the livebearers showed no outward symptoms and it's still very strange that the fish died species by species, one by one. Plus, I use the same equipment to do water changes on the tanks of a very old betta fish and a red-spotted newt respectively, both of which are doing just fine. It still seems to be the strongest possibility, since the body of the fish that died yesterday has an arched back, and the fish usually hide or disappear shortly before they die. Does anyone know what the source of all this could be?
Now I'm angry with myself (and the fact that I am an experienced fishkeeper but don't currently have a water testing kit in my home!), and I don't think I'm going to keep fish in a 10g ever again unless its for fry, its just too small. I fooled myself into thinking maintenance would be easier (I'm 15 years old and have ap classes, so it's just not feasible for me to maintain a large aquarium in the long term).
As an alternative, I'm thinking of keeping a few land hermit crabs in there instead. However, now there's a lone fish swimming in the 10g. What would be an ethical way to deal with this situation?
After a few days both fry disappeared, and even though i felt guilty i figured that they had succumbed to stress. Nothing else happened from several more weeks, until i introduced 5 store-bought bloodfin tetras. They did ok for a few days until one began to look deformed and soon died. I thought that maybe it was a weak one, or getting picked on by the other fish, but sure enough every month or so each of the tetras died off one by one. I suspected fish TB, but it seemed strange that only the tetras were dying.
For a while it was only the 4 haitian livebearers until they began dying off too. for some time, a pair of them lived until the male died yesterday. Now only a female remains as the lone survivor. Although i wouldn't be surprised if she died randomly too. I tried to rationalize that the bloodfins were weak stock and the haitian livebearers were old (I have had them for a few years; they dont produce fry anymore because they are infertile), but it's all too much of a coincidence.
Fish TB or some other disease is a possibility, especially since the brunt of this has occured after introducing the tetras, but the livebearers showed no outward symptoms and it's still very strange that the fish died species by species, one by one. Plus, I use the same equipment to do water changes on the tanks of a very old betta fish and a red-spotted newt respectively, both of which are doing just fine. It still seems to be the strongest possibility, since the body of the fish that died yesterday has an arched back, and the fish usually hide or disappear shortly before they die. Does anyone know what the source of all this could be?
Now I'm angry with myself (and the fact that I am an experienced fishkeeper but don't currently have a water testing kit in my home!), and I don't think I'm going to keep fish in a 10g ever again unless its for fry, its just too small. I fooled myself into thinking maintenance would be easier (I'm 15 years old and have ap classes, so it's just not feasible for me to maintain a large aquarium in the long term).
As an alternative, I'm thinking of keeping a few land hermit crabs in there instead. However, now there's a lone fish swimming in the 10g. What would be an ethical way to deal with this situation?
