Dead Cardinal Tetra

[emmaparsonsm]

Yesterday I noticed my cardinal tetra breathing heavily and was hiding within plants and near the top of the tank so assumed it was swim bladder. This morning its passed away and I’ve included a photo as it has a green tinge to half of its stomach. Just want to make sure this isn’t going to affect my whole tank or if anyone could identify what this could possibly be? TIA

 

[Andy Sager]

Yesterday I noticed my cardinal tetra breathing heavily and was hiding within plants and near the top of the tank so assumed it was swim bladder. This morning its passed away and I’ve included a photo as it has a green tinge to half of its stomach. Just want to make sure this isn’t going to affect my whole tank or if anyone could identify what this could possibly be? TIA

The list of potentials is long so you need to provide a lot more information such as :
How long have you had the fish?
Is this a wild caught fish or a farm bred fish?
How many and what kinds of other fish are in the tank?
Tank size?
Water parameters?
How long the fish was not acting right?
Were the eyes bulging out?
Did you see the fishes scales bulging out like a pinecone?
This looks to be a very gravid female, are there males in the tank as well?
Any harassment in the tank from other fish?
How is the tank decorated?
Was this fish part of a school or a single? If part of a school, did she swim with the rest or stay to herself elsewhere in the tank?
What is your maintenance schedule?
How soon after a water change did she start acting differently?

Let's start there.

 

[emmaparsonsm]

So the tanks been set up for about 3 months, the water quality is perfect 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and between 5-10 nitrates and stable 8.2 pH the water is a little hard but nothing worryingly high. I check it every 2 days with the API master kit because I’m paranoid! It’s 90 litres and heavily planted and I water change around 20% every week. The only thing in the tank was some melafix as I introduced a new fish. The tetras did have fin rot about 3 weeks ago which I have managed to get rid of using melafix and did a good clean in the tank and none show any signs now other than their fins starting to grow back. There’s 9 cardinals, 4 platies and a honey gourami and some shrimp. No signs of bullying or harassment there are a mix of male and female and this female only yesterday started not being with the group, sitting within plants and I found her floating towards the top breathing heavily which led me to think it was swim bladder. No buldging eyes or pine coning either. I’m unsure on if they’re wild caught or not I originally got 5 bigger ones and then introduced some smaller ones a week later as 5 was not enough. The only thing really noticeable after death was the green stomach on one side.

 

[emmaparsonsm]

So the tanks been set up for about 3 months, the water quality is perfect 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and between 5-10 nitrates and stable 8.2 pH the water is a little hard but nothing worryingly high. I check it every 2 days with the API master kit because I’m paranoid! It’s 90 litres and heavily planted and I water change around 20% every week. The only thing in the tank was some melafix as I introduced a new fish. The tetras did have fin rot about 3 weeks ago which I have managed to get rid of using melafix and did a good clean in the tank and none show any signs now other than their fins starting to grow back. There’s 9 cardinals, 4 platies and a honey gourami and some shrimp. No signs of bullying or harassment there are a mix of male and female and this female only yesterday started not being with the group, sitting within plants and I found her floating towards the top breathing heavily which led me to think it was swim bladder. No buldging eyes or pine coning either. I’m unsure on if they’re wild caught or not I originally got 5 bigger ones and then introduced some smaller ones a week later as 5 was not enough. The only thing really noticeable after death was the green stomach on one side.

I now have a platy appearing with the same symptoms I have given a bath in Epsom salt so just hoping it makes it over night

 

[Andy Sager]

The green spot is a bit concerning because fish TB also leaves a mark but it's a brown mark in the gut area. Wild caught cardinals are less likely to have fish TB than farm raised ones are. The good news is that fish TB is not transferrable by just being in the same tank but through consumption of a diseased fish or physical contact with an infected fish. To my knowledge, there is no disease that shows a green mark in the gut so this may be a case of the female being eggbound and the eggs rotting inside her causing an internal infection.
As for the similar symptoms in a Platy, is this a male or female? Female Platies when about to deliver their fry will breath heavily and hide in the plants for the safety of the fry. So I don't want to jump to any conclusions just yet.

One of the major issues these days with our fishy friends is that farmed fish and wild caught fish carry different pathogens so they really shouldn't be mixed in the same tank because they need to be treated medicinally with different meds. Most platies today are farm bred but Cardinals are a major product responsible fish collectors in S. America carefully harvest so you should ask your fish store whether they carry wild caught ones or farmed ones and you should not mix the two in the same tank. What's recommended currently is to quarantine any new fish for at least 60 days to ensure the fish are healthy, can get used to your regular maintenance and feeding schedules and foods without the stress of established fish being food " hogs" or faster eaters.

Lastly, you have a combination of fish that really do not do well together. Platies like a harder and more alkaline water parameter while Cardinals prefer a soft, neutral to acidic water. The Gourami is most likely farmed so can handle a harder water parameter but different shrimps like different parameters so it will depend on the type you have whether they will do well long term. With your water parameters you listed, the cardinals will probably not do well long term. It's best to get fish that not only are compatible but also prefer the same water parameters re: pH, General Hardness, TDS and such which match your water's parameters.

 

[emmaparsonsm]

The green spot is a bit concerning because fish TB also leaves a mark but it's a brown mark in the gut area. Wild caught cardinals are less likely to have fish TB than farm raised ones are. The good news is that fish TB is not transferrable by just being in the same tank but through consumption of a diseased fish or physical contact with an infected fish. To my knowledge, there is no disease that shows a green mark in the gut so this may be a case of the female being eggbound and the eggs rotting inside her causing an internal infection.
As for the similar symptoms in a Platy, is this a male or female? Female Platies when about to deliver their fry will breath heavily and hide in the plants for the safety of the fry. So I don't want to jump to any conclusions just yet.

One of the major issues these days with our fishy friends is that farmed fish and wild caught fish carry different pathogens so they really shouldn't be mixed in the same tank because they need to be treated medicinally with different meds. Most platies today are farm bred but Cardinals are a major product responsible fish collectors in S. America carefully harvest so you should ask your fish store whether they carry wild caught ones or farmed ones and you should not mix the two in the same tank. What's recommended currently is to quarantine any new fish for at least 60 days to ensure the fish are healthy, can get used to your regular maintenance and feeding schedules and foods without the stress of established fish being food " hogs" or faster eaters.

Lastly, you have a combination of fish that really do not do well together. Platies like a harder and more alkaline water parameter while Cardinals prefer a soft, neutral to acidic water. The Gourami is most likely farmed so can handle a harder water parameter but different shrimps like different parameters so it will depend on the type you have whether they will do well long term. With your water parameters you listed, the cardinals will probably not do well long term. It's best to get fish that not only are compatible but also prefer the same water parameters re: pH, General Hardness, TDS and such which match your water's parameters.

Thankyou for your advice I’m very new at this so will make sure in the future to ask about wild/farmed and get more specific fish for my parameters. The platy seems fine this morning maybe I was just worrying too much. Will keep an eye out for any other fish with the same symptoms it was an egg bound female, thanks for your help

 

[Andy Sager]

Thankyou for your advice I’m very new at this so will make sure in the future to ask about wild/farmed and get more specific fish for my parameters. The platy seems fine this morning maybe I was just worrying too much. Will keep an eye out for any other fish with the same symptoms it was an egg bound female, thanks for your help

Unfortunately, that can happen with fish. They don't always need to spawn but something happens in them and they can't or don't absorb the eggs to keep them from going bad. It just falls under the category of " stuff happens". The best you can do is keep the water clean and the diet high quality foods.