jwokmuba2

well two days ago i got three cardinals and they were doing great. last night i could only find one of them , but i have so much plants and three caves in the tank i thought it might be hiding or i just couldnt see him, well this morning i did a head count and only found 1 of them.... so i got worried and started to move around my caves, found one dead....., so i quikly checked all the water water parameters and this is what i got,

0 ammonia, o nitrite, 10 nitrate, pH 7.2, temp 79 F

i doesnt seem like anything is wrong the only thing that i can think of is the two fish that died/went missing, had some damaged fins, from the pet store. could they have died from fin rot? or could my fish have nipped them to death, i didnt see any agression. please help.

capekate

Cardinal tetras are one of those species that are very very sensitive to the acclimation process. They need a slow drip acclimation that usually lasts a few hours before they can adjust enough to be released into the tank. And even if you do it correctly, its still not unheard of to loose a few.
Also if they showed nipped fins, its very possible that the other BP tetras in the tank may have caused it.

dee34

my dad is having the same trouble he got 6 guppies 4 rainbow tetras and 4 harliquins 2 days ago , he hasnt got much of that list left all readings are fine so its hard to determin what happens to the little guys

BigJoe

make sure your water conditioner includes dechlorinator and kills chlorines and chloromines

jwokmuba2

yes i use prime with every wc, but the thing i didnt know was that cardinals need the slow drip acclimating process, i only acclimated them over and hour adding water every ten mins, mabey thats where a messed up..

Lucy

I'm sorry about your fish
They're pretty sensitive so even if you did a nice long drip there's no guarantee you wouldn't have lost one.
Cardinals are one of the few fish one of my LFS's won't guarantee.

jwokmuba2

well next time ill make sure to take my time with them, any other tips about them would be appreciated

Craig-D

I bought 3 cardinals once and they lasted about 3 days. They are very sensitive fish. Even with proper acclimation, there's no guarantees with them and losses are likely. Another thing to consider is Jwokmuba's pH is 7.2 and that is too high for cardinals. They like acidic water and 7.0 is about as high as they will tolerate, with more like 6.5 or lower preferred.

peacemaker92

I agree with Craig on the ph. Cardinals are VERY sensitive to water conditions. I had a few of them before, did everything the book and articles said to do. All died one by one a week later. I never got Cardinals again even if I really wanted to. They're REALLY nice fish but very hard to keep. I guess some beautiful fish come with a big price!

But good luck with your future cardinals. I'm sure you can do it! I give up too easily.

Time

Hey I don't know this so cansomeone tell me? What is the dif between cardinals and neons?

peacemaker92

It's quite easy to tell the difference between cardinals and neons. Neons have the red lines only half on it's body below the blue neon but the cardinals have its red lines on its whole lower body below the blue neon. Sorry if I'm confusing you. Check out this link if my explanation makes no sense!

http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/fi...oncardinal.htm

Time

I am very thankful! I didn't know.

aquarist48

Hello. Sorry to hear you've lost some fish. From everything I've read, (and great information above by the way) Cardinals and Neons should actually go into a well established tank. Several months old. I see that your tank was started 7/1/9. If that is the case then I would recommend waiting a while longer before trying them again.
Ken

heather84

I didnt acclimate my cardinals for any longer than i do my other fish and mine are fine. So i really think its a chance thing.

Do you have any fish that are known to be agressive? I lost one of my neons not to long ago. It completly vanished, non of my fish are agressive so no one should have killed him but if a fish dies in the tank for its own reasons the other fish will deff. eat him up. im assuming this is what happened to mine. Or he may have jumped out and my 2 cats got him.....

could urs have jumped out?

jwokmuba2

i have black phantom tetras, but they are not that agressive with each other or the other fish in the tank, one of my cardinals is still doing fine, eating normal and look great