Bleeding heart tetra's dying

TLDR: Half of my Bleeding heart tetras have died in the past 5mos. Old age or disease?



I only buy Petco/Petsmart fish in for new tanks (no other fish to spread disease to). I got 8 Petco- Bleeding Heart Tetras for my 50g 5yrs ago

They we're never super active, for the past 2 years they stay still hang out near each other in the back of the tank (I assume to keep away from my hyper zebra loaches).


Starting 5-6 mos ago, 4 have died one at a time, weeks apart.


Pattern is the same,
-I notice one being really slow to get food
-it will have minor fin fraying which gets noticeable within a few days
-4-7 days later it gets swimming issues, and stays curled to the side when it tries to swim, stays by the floor.
- then it dies a day after the curled swimming starts.


*by the time they die abetween 20%-33% of the find are frayed. I'm not familiar with tetras + finrot but the few times Ive witnessed it in other fish, the fin rot destroys most of thier fins before they die and thiers often pussing or other symptom, this looks like nipping (but I'm 100% sure its not from anyone biting anyone)

First one happened after a the heater got moved during a water change, temp dropped 6° for 2 days. I assumed that way why.
2nd one was 7 weeks later. I just did water changes every other day and more plants added to the tank.
3rd one got sick about 2 weeks later, was quarantined treated with Furan 2 (i had left over), and API fin and body once it shipped, but still started curing up sinking down. I had to euthanize
4th one got sick about 2 weeks later #3, moved him to quarantine but just added melafix (which does nothing, but I had it so used it).

Now its been 4 weeks, no sickness yet. Not sure what to do.

I have an African leaf gourami, 6 zebra loaches, now 4 bleeding heart tetras. Not sure if I should treat the whole tank with meds, do nothing (assume the tetras are dying of old age), or add more tetras. I don't love the idea of just 4 tetras, they get more reclusive with each death.

 

I am not familiar with bleeding heart tetras but many other tetras mature and breed in the first year. This is a sign of a species that is basically an annual species. In the wild when the rains come in abundance on a good year the species breeds up into hundreds of thousands as they breed in the same wet season as they hatch. Not all survive the second or third season.

Only in our aquariums without predators do they drag on year after year . A 6 year old tetra has had a good run.

. If they can’t breed in your tank the school is always going to get smaller over time. It’s your call if you add more tetras ever couple of years.

Short answer.
At 6 years it’s old age.

 

I am not familiar with bleeding heart tetras but many other tetras mature and breed in the first year. This is a sign of a species that is basically an annual species. In the wild when the rains come in abundance on a good year the species breeds up into hundreds of thousands as they breed in the same wet season as they hatch. Not all survive the second or third season.

Only in our aquariums without predators do they drag on year after year . A 6 year old tetra has had a good run.

. If they can’t breed in your tank the school is always going to get smaller over time. It’s your call if you add more tetras ever couple of years.

Short answer.
At 6 years it’s old age.

For more colorful Petco tropical fish often have half the normal life expectancy ( breeders).
Not sure if that's true for tetra's, but not unreasonable to assume Petco BH Tetra's dying of old age at 4.5-5yrs.

I don't want more tetras but don't want to kill off the ones I have faster from not having a school. Conundrum.

 

There are three species of Bleeding Heart Tetra: Hyphessobrycon erythrostigma, Hy. bleheri, and Hy. pyrrhonotus. The first was the original import and grows much larger than the other two (used to see 3+ inchers quite often). The second tends to be redder overall, and stays slightly smaller, which makes it more popular. It seems to be the most common of the three in commercial channels these days. The third is also called the Flameback Bleeding Heart. I think it is the smallest of the three and stands out for the dark red on the upper half of the body. It is not common, but I have seen it occasionally.

The erythrostigma tended to live a long life in the aquarium. I knew of 9-10 year old fish in some instances. I am not as familiar with bleheri, so I would not be surprised if they had a more normal lifespan of 5-6 years in aquaria. I am pretty sure that pyrrhonotus has a shorter lifespan, also around 5-6 years.

All three species are considered difficult to breed in aquaria. I think this is because the females are very susceptible to egg-binding. They don't die, but they can't release eggs, either. My own theory is that they need to be spawned within the first year or two. As Flyfisha mentioned, they tend to spawn very young in the wild.

 

There are three species of Bleeding Heart Tetra: Hyphessobrycon erythrostigma, Hy. bleheri, and Hy. pyrrhonotus. The first was the original import and grows much larger than the other two (used to see 3+ inchers quite often). The second tends to be redder overall, and stays slightly smaller, which makes it more popular. It seems to be the most common of the three in commercial channels these days. The third is also called the Flameback Bleeding Heart. I think it is the smallest of the three and stands out for the dark red on the upper half of the body. It is not common, but I have seen it occasionally.

The erythrostigma tended to live a long life in the aquarium. I knew of 9-10 year old fish in some instances. I am not as familiar with bleheri, so I would not be surprised if they had a more normal lifespan of 5-6 years in aquaria. I am pretty sure that pyrrhonotus has a shorter lifespan, also around 5-6 years.

All three species are considered difficult to breed in aquaria. I think this is because the females are very susceptible to egg-binding. They don't die, but they can't release eggs, either. My own theory is that they need to be spawned within the first year or two. As Flyfisha mentioned, they tend to spawn very young in the wild.

Mine would be Hyphessobrycon erythrostigma, unless petco has some hybrid (these only grew to 2.5"), much smaller than the ones I've seen on other people's tanks. Your post opens a new can of worms, would adding 4 new bleeding heart tetras even help the situation, what are the odds they're generically too different to not school.

 

I made an error, the second Bleeding Heart is socolofi, not bleheri (a rummynose), and it is not that different in color from erythrostigma. But it is distinctly smaller, and the fins are smaller. The white band in the analfin is narrower than on erythrostigma. The average hobbyist will have trouble differentiating the two species, but if your fish reached 2.5 inches then, yes, they are likely erythrostigma.