Cardinal Tetra Problem

I'm looking to top of my aquarium stocking on my planted Discus tank, adding the addition of some beautiful Cardinal Tetra's. For some reason, I've had two batches of 6 Cardinal Tetra's, and the same thing happened every time. Each one would slowly die off, doing 50% water changes in a QT every day. I even drip acclimated both batches! The second batch I had one that survived for a few weeks, but I dropped him back off to my local LFS because I'm not keeping just a single Cardinal Tetra, poor guy. I'm not sure what the cause of this is, I'm considering adding bitonicals for my next batch in the future, things like Indian Almond Leaves and maybe some wood in the QT. I'm also going to be keeping the lights off almost at all times. I was wondering if there's an issue I haven't heard of that could maybe be the cause of this problem. I provided many hiding spaces with fake plants (considering it was only temporary two weeks), and I've now upgraded my QT to a 29 gallon to maybe make them feel more safe, along with a spray painted background. Also, if there's anything else I could do to ensure their survival as much as possible, please let me know! Considering I've kept Discus for months now, I definitely don't think it's a water quality problem, especially since the Cardinals weren't wild caught so ph shouldn't matter too much.

 

I had similar issues at first with my cardinal tetras. First I got to many in one shot, and I took too long to acclimate (3 hours after about three hours in the bag). Lost 75% out of 60 fish. Second time around I got fewer (12 for a ten gallon QT), and did a flop and drop... Floated the bag for twenty minutes, then netted them and put them straight into QT, no drip acclimation. Less stress for me and the fish, no ammonia burn or sudden pH swing that way. 25% die off rate. No additional deaths after three days, have had them for two years now.

I no longer drip acclimate, just temperature match, net and drop into QT, haven't lost any fish since then (lemon tetra, sterbaI Cory, KohlI loaches, guppies, even German blue Rams and shrimp).

Definitely leave lights off for a couple of days. My QT now has substrate, plenty of cover, etc, to help first feel comfortable. My first were always skittish when I had bare bottom QT.

 

I had similar issues at first with my cardinal tetras. First I got to many in one shot, and I took too long to acclimate (3 hours after about three hours in the bag). Lost 75% out of 60 fish. Second time around I got fewer (12 for a ten gallon QT), and did a flop and drop... Floated the bag for twenty minutes, then netted them and put them straight into QT, no drip acclimation. Less stress for me and the fish, no ammonia burn or sudden pH swing that way. 25% die off rate. No additional deaths after three days, have had them for two years now.

I no longer drip acclimate, just temperature match, net and drop into QT, haven't lost any fish since then (lemon tetra, sterbaI Cory, KohlI loaches, guppies, even shrimp).

Wow, never would I ever think I'd hear myself say in this hobby "you're trying too hard" lol. I think that's honestly what it was, thinking about it. About an hour car ride, or at least an hour till temp acclimating, then about an hour, hour and a half of dripping.

 

Oh btw, I do weekly water changes in my QT.. daily may be too stressful

 

Oh btw, I do weekly water changes in my QT.. daily may be too stressful

I think my thought process at the time was, fish started dying, panic, water change lol. But it all kinda makes sense, if that's the cause. I guess I'll give it one more go soon.

 

QT filter needs to be Rock solid. Dose stability if u are concerned. I throw hornwort (floating plant) into all my tanks now, Including QT tank, haven't had any cycling issues. Hornwort plus a good light == no ammonia. Cardinals, GBR, these fish require established tanks. A newly cycled tank just doesn't have the full ecosystem of bacteria to keep a tank stable. Good luck! Remember , many fish you are getting are stressed from transit etc . Just leave them alone for a day or two, don't feed them, just net out the dead ones. Oh and more thing, Cardinals like playing dead when serious stressed. You want to make sure they really are dead before you dump them out.

 

QT filter needs to be Rock solid. Dose stability if u are concerned. I throw hornwort (floating plant) into all my tanks now, Including QT tank, haven't had any cycling issues. Hornwort plus a good light == no ammonia. Cardinals, GBR, these fish require established tanks. A newly cycled tank just doesn't have the full ecosystem of bacteria to keep a tank stable. Good luck! Remember , many fish you are getting are stressed from transit etc . Just leave them alone for a day or two, don't feed them, just net out the dead ones. Oh and more thing, Cardinals like playing dead when serious stressed. You want to make sure they really are dead before you dump them out.

I have a HOB filter I always keep on one of my tanks for over a year now, and thank you for the advise will do!