Hannah_in_1derland
- #1
Hey guys!
So I have a tiny community tank (20 gallons) with me at my college dorm and currently have a school of white cloud minnows (there are 10 of them) and wanted to add a few tetras. I did my research and since I have a 25 gallon tetra community of a few different types of tetras back at home, I figured I was well equipped with knowledge and supplies to take care of tetras. I went to my local pet store and purchased 5 bloodfin tetras. Now before you guys comment that this isn't enough and they need to school, I have had tetras and white clouds before and they school together and live together totally fine so I wasn't worried about that. I monitored the fish quite closely for the first week and noticed one of the bloodfins wasn't eating (by choice - not because of aggression from other fish) but he didn't show any other signs of sickness or getting bullied by the group. He was also rather active and kept up with the school. No one bullied anyone and the white clouds and bloodfins were schooled together. Everything seemed fine except yesterday, I noticed this bloodfin (presumably the one who hadn't been eating) was holding his mouth opened and his fins were moving rather aggressively and he seemed rather sick. I have Tetra brand "LifeGuard" tablets on hand and so I removed the carbon from my filter and dropped one of the tabs in after changing the water. It's a five day treatment and treats everything from ick to most fungal infections to other parasites and is completely safe to treat as a preventative care rather than waiting for fish to show signs of disease.
I woke up this morning to a dead bloodfin. Now I've dealt with a number of dead fish since I have had aquariums for close to 7 years but I have never seen a dead fish with his mouth as wide as this little dude's was. His body literally has no other signs of damage - no torn fins, no ick spots, no fungal spots and I don't think he had any internal parasites. And normally, I wouldn't be so freaked out but like I said, his mouth was very opened and he went from completely fine one day to awfully sickly the next to dead on the third day. I am going to finish out the 5 day treatment of the LifeGuard tablets but still just kinda wondering if I should be concerned about how he died.
And just for those of you wondering - my pH is at 7-7.2, nitrates and nitrites are at 0ppm and ammonia is also at 0ppm. Water temperature is usually at 72degrees F (give or take a degree here and there). I test my water weekly right before I do my weekly 30% water changes. I feed Omega One freshwater fish flakes and have some plants and drift wood in the tank. My filter media is carbon, bio-balls and Zeolite blend.
I know this is a long post but I am just trying to explain the situation because I am so confused how he died but if you want the TL;DR - my bloodfin tetra died rather suddenly with his mouth gapping opened and all other tank parameters haven't changed and are safe for all the fish. Thanks in advance guys
So I have a tiny community tank (20 gallons) with me at my college dorm and currently have a school of white cloud minnows (there are 10 of them) and wanted to add a few tetras. I did my research and since I have a 25 gallon tetra community of a few different types of tetras back at home, I figured I was well equipped with knowledge and supplies to take care of tetras. I went to my local pet store and purchased 5 bloodfin tetras. Now before you guys comment that this isn't enough and they need to school, I have had tetras and white clouds before and they school together and live together totally fine so I wasn't worried about that. I monitored the fish quite closely for the first week and noticed one of the bloodfins wasn't eating (by choice - not because of aggression from other fish) but he didn't show any other signs of sickness or getting bullied by the group. He was also rather active and kept up with the school. No one bullied anyone and the white clouds and bloodfins were schooled together. Everything seemed fine except yesterday, I noticed this bloodfin (presumably the one who hadn't been eating) was holding his mouth opened and his fins were moving rather aggressively and he seemed rather sick. I have Tetra brand "LifeGuard" tablets on hand and so I removed the carbon from my filter and dropped one of the tabs in after changing the water. It's a five day treatment and treats everything from ick to most fungal infections to other parasites and is completely safe to treat as a preventative care rather than waiting for fish to show signs of disease.
I woke up this morning to a dead bloodfin. Now I've dealt with a number of dead fish since I have had aquariums for close to 7 years but I have never seen a dead fish with his mouth as wide as this little dude's was. His body literally has no other signs of damage - no torn fins, no ick spots, no fungal spots and I don't think he had any internal parasites. And normally, I wouldn't be so freaked out but like I said, his mouth was very opened and he went from completely fine one day to awfully sickly the next to dead on the third day. I am going to finish out the 5 day treatment of the LifeGuard tablets but still just kinda wondering if I should be concerned about how he died.
And just for those of you wondering - my pH is at 7-7.2, nitrates and nitrites are at 0ppm and ammonia is also at 0ppm. Water temperature is usually at 72degrees F (give or take a degree here and there). I test my water weekly right before I do my weekly 30% water changes. I feed Omega One freshwater fish flakes and have some plants and drift wood in the tank. My filter media is carbon, bio-balls and Zeolite blend.
I know this is a long post but I am just trying to explain the situation because I am so confused how he died but if you want the TL;DR - my bloodfin tetra died rather suddenly with his mouth gapping opened and all other tank parameters haven't changed and are safe for all the fish. Thanks in advance guys
