Guys, I'm sad and frustrated. I keep loosing fish.
I have a 40 gallon breeder that I cycled (fishless) carefully, then slowly stocked with 5 serpae tetras and a dwarf gourami to start. The serpaes were nipping at the gourami so I increased the school to 10 serpae and they confined their nipping to each other. Those Originals have done great, no problems. They're fat and happy and colorful.
But I later added 10 rummy nose tetras (from a different aquarium shop than the Originals). I acclimated them really slowly- drip over 2 hours. Five died off one by one with no apparent cause within the first two weeks. Parameters all good and stable, no sign of disease or infection. A few months after the 5 rummies died and things seemed stable, I added 8 sterbai cory cats. A few days later 4 of the remaining rummies died of Ich. None of the other fish showed a sign of Ich, though I did treat the whole tank with Ich-X. As soon as I finish treating for Ich, the cories start dying. Now I'm down to 2.
So now I have 10 apparently bullet-proof serpae and a gourami. I have one lone rummy and two cories who I fully expect to find dead any morning.
I think I'm going to just not do or change anything for about 4 or 5 months. At that point... I don't know? Try to give the Rummy a school again? Will he be ok for 5 months alone?
Parameters:
ammonia: 0
nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 10
pH 7.5
hard water - chicago tap, treated
Temp 77
Two Aqueon 30 external filters
airstone
Fine sand substrate
fake plants
Prime conditioner
feed variety of flakes, sinking pelets, frozen daphnia and bloodworms, veggie disks, peas.
I have a 40 gallon breeder that I cycled (fishless) carefully, then slowly stocked with 5 serpae tetras and a dwarf gourami to start. The serpaes were nipping at the gourami so I increased the school to 10 serpae and they confined their nipping to each other. Those Originals have done great, no problems. They're fat and happy and colorful.
But I later added 10 rummy nose tetras (from a different aquarium shop than the Originals). I acclimated them really slowly- drip over 2 hours. Five died off one by one with no apparent cause within the first two weeks. Parameters all good and stable, no sign of disease or infection. A few months after the 5 rummies died and things seemed stable, I added 8 sterbai cory cats. A few days later 4 of the remaining rummies died of Ich. None of the other fish showed a sign of Ich, though I did treat the whole tank with Ich-X. As soon as I finish treating for Ich, the cories start dying. Now I'm down to 2.
So now I have 10 apparently bullet-proof serpae and a gourami. I have one lone rummy and two cories who I fully expect to find dead any morning.
I think I'm going to just not do or change anything for about 4 or 5 months. At that point... I don't know? Try to give the Rummy a school again? Will he be ok for 5 months alone?
Parameters:
ammonia: 0
nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 10
pH 7.5
hard water - chicago tap, treated
Temp 77
Two Aqueon 30 external filters
airstone
Fine sand substrate
fake plants
Prime conditioner
feed variety of flakes, sinking pelets, frozen daphnia and bloodworms, veggie disks, peas.