Rummynose Loss.

I posted on this thread bellow several months back about rummynose loss, either because of transportation and acclimation or one by one separating from the herd, thinning, and dying. I was down to two female Rummynose through most of 2020. I lost my oldest Rummynose, you know they do look alike but I spent so much time with my fish that I can tell them apart by now even if they look so similar. This one was easy as she always loved to hang out at the same place all the time. I was about to do my weekly water change when I noticed her darting around near the top of the tank and worried. I noticed a slight loss of balance and five minutes later she tilted and leaned on the plants. I took her out as she became visibly worse and put her in a fresh bowl of water while I tested the water. She turned upside down and was fighting it for a half an hour before she died. Once she gave up, she sank straight to the bottom. A sight too familiar by now, red eyes, two pale dots over the brain developing 10 minutes after death.. brain ischemia. Cause of death unknown really. She was well fed and lasted long, but nowhere near the 5-6 lifespan. She was probably a year old.

The pH was surprisingly low for my tank, probably around 6.3, high pH under 7 I guess. I thought something was wrong with the water as one plant started losing leaves. Ammonia was at 0.25 ppm, expected since I fed freeze-dried brine shrimp and it was time for a monthly filter clean. Nitrites 0, Nitrates 10 or 20 ppm rather typical after one week. The Temperate was 75 F. Testing water parameters is rather useless, the numbers can only pinpoint an ongoing problem, but nothing else. I am starting to believe that my fish have been dying one by one from an internal parasite which causes the rummynose and the celestial pearl danios to thin and die or algae build-up. Every time I get an algae build-up or don't clean the filter on time a fish dies. I am down to one rummynose now. Just one, I got her as a replacement and she was the last rummynose to enter the tank. I do not think I realize this is inconvenient for the fish as she has no same species to mingle with, but my experience with this type of fish has not been the best. The rummynose need to go in a species only tank, with the exception of amazon origin corydoras. I don't have that luxury at the moment for a species tank, and I doubt I will have success if I add more rummynose. Don't get me wrong, they are beautiful and smart fish and I loved watching them communicate with each other every time I came over to feed. I only saw them school twice. But they are tricky to acclimate and will die on you on the first night or the first week. If they survive they will start to thin and die, one by one. I don't know if I should just treat the entire tank for an internal parasite or this thinning is specific to rummynose.. but it is always a good idea to medicate any fish you buy from the pet store during a month of quarantine. The fish could have died from natural causes, I don't know unless I dissect and put it under the microscope.. and that's unlikely to happen. Since I don't have much room and I need to get me some male CPD's as the only one died two months ago, it's highly probable that the last female rummynose will be alone among other fish for the rest of her life. Fortunately, she seemed to be less dependent on a group. I am definitely understocked at the moment, but adding a school of Rummynose with a school of CPD's in addition to a school of all-female CPD's, does not seem reasonable in a 20 gallon tank with a school of Black Ruby Barbs, a school of Corydoras and half a school of Harlequin Rasboras. Replacements can be a pain, and unless my betta becomes social again.. I cannot move the CPD's to make room for more Rummynose.

 

The problem might simply be a bad batch of Rummynose. Genetically weak or already infected upon purchase.
If you choose to try again, buy from another vendor.
Check out the "similar threads". Recently many fishkeepers have had unexplained Rummynose die offs.

 

I love Rummynose and have had no luck with them either. I bought probably 40 of them from 2 different places and municipalities. Ended up with 6 Over night 3 or 4 would die then 1 or 2 later. The 6 lasted for awhile until I changed out substrate and all died overnight. I have high pH that could be why too. They of course have no guarantees for these fish so I just stopped buying them. Too expensive for dead fish!

 

I love Rummynose and have had no luck with them either. I bought probably 40 of them from 2 different places and municipalities. Ended up with 6 Over night 3 or 4 would die then 1 or 2 later. The 6 lasted for awhile until I changed out substrate and all died overnight. I have high pH that could be why too. They of course have no guarantees for these fish so I just stopped buying them. Too expensive for dead fish!

I doubt if it's high pH, unless yours is very high. My daughter-in-law and I each have some in 8.2 pH water.

 

I doubt if it's high pH, unless yours is very high. My daughter-in-law and I each have some in 8.2 pH water.

Yeah mine is 8-8.2 also.

 

The problem might simply be a bad batch of Rummynose. Genetically weak or already infected upon purchase.
If you choose to try again, buy from another vendor.
Check out the "similar threads". Recently many fishkeepers have had unexplained Rummynose die offs.

Well, I do believe it had to do with the original batch 100% loss over the span of 8 months. With half of that number lost in the first week, and the replacements not fearing much better themselves. I bought them from a large petstore chain and it's a hit or miss. My other fish bought from them have been going strong. I notice that a lot of Rummynose owners have issues like this, so I suspect it is the species. To remedy this, I think they need to go in a species only tank and not community tanks. I think fish "psychology" has a lot to do with health. Barbs and Cory's are very hardy and have been going strong. The tank was originally built to the Barbs liking and specifications based on their natural habitat, which is probably why they feel at home. While I noticed the Rummynose did not like the tank and always stayed together in a corner. My tank is built for Asian fish, with the exception of the Corydoras, they all come from South East Asia and I went to some length to mimic their natural habitat. All I see is happiness from the fish that originate from Asia, they are out being active, chasing, breeding, playing, etc. But the Rummynose always seemed depressed.

 

Guys I feel you all. I bought nine and now left with only 4.

1 of them disappeared like 2 weeks into quarantine period, 2 died thinning during QT, 1 died thinning in main tank after surviving in QT and 1 jumped out of the tank while I was cleaning the substrate yesterday. For those that thinned and died, I took it that it’s a batch issue. For the one that jumped out I think my cleaning startled him quite a bit.

Yes rummies are very sensitive breed and if your water stats isn’t constant, you’re in for trouble. So far my stats hasn’t fluctuated a lot so I believe that’s why the other 4 have survived till now. Will get more from LFS and see what happens in my next batch. Hopefully it will turn out well.

 

Guys I feel you all. I bought nine and now left with only 4.

1 of them disappeared like 2 weeks into quarantine period, 2 died thinning during QT, 1 died thinning in main tank after surviving in QT and 1 jumped out of the tank while I was cleaning the substrate yesterday. For those that thinned and died, I took it that it’s a batch issue. For the one that jumped out I think my cleaning startled him quite a bit.

Yes rummies are very sensitive breed and if your water stats isn’t constant, you’re in for trouble. So far my stats hasn’t fluctuated a lot so I believe that’s why the other 4 have survived till now. Will get more from LFS and see what happens in my next batch. Hopefully it will turn out well.

I agree the breed is very sensitive. I have read the same issues with most owners of Rummynose. I hope it works out for you with the new batch. Seems like you are on the right track.

 

I agree the breed is very sensitive. I have read the same issues with most owners of Rummynose. I hope it works out for you with the new batch. Seems like you are on the right track.

Just an update. Not too good either. I’m now left with 6 rummies. One of it started to thin and grow black a week or 2 ago and now has a white dot in his head. Although he’s still swimming and eating well, I doubt it’ll be for long. Below is what I’ve captured (circled red) and hope someone here will be able to advise what’s gone wrong. My water stats so far has been constant. 0, 0, 10-20, 7.4.

 

I think that's a fungus, but I'm not sure. The same thing happened to one of my rainbowfish. It was dead in about 4 days.

 

Rummy noses are my favorite...for me they are hard to come across and when i do i usually buy the entire tank stock at my LFS
They are super sensitive tho, i get worried everytime i do water changes in their tank.
From the last batch of 8 that i bought about 2 and a half months ago...im down to 3...all thining out and gone smh.
I love to get into a project to be able to breed them but im still doing alot more reseach on them before i even try.
I did talk with one of the managers at my LFS and she said that alot of the fish that they have been getting lately have been of very low quality, specially the rummys
So maybe it was just a bad batch of them