Rummy Nose Tetra Swim Bladder Issue?

[Talonlock]

Hi all,

I’ve recently stocked my aquarium with a dozen(12) rummy nose tetras in a community planted tank. This is the first time I’m keeping them and did all the research and hours upon hours of youtube videos to understand how to take care of them.

It has been about 30 hours since I got them, and I’m now down to 5, with another one of them likely going soon.

I got them from a local fish store which I trust and have bought from before, they take care of their fish well and I have never had any issues aside from one time that one of my betta’s came with/got ich.

I’ve seen with the ones that have passed that they all kept losing balance, only one of their side(arm) fins were flapping and constantly swimming on their side or upside down. Eventually they would land on a plant leaf or substrate and continued breathing until they eventually stopped and lost their colour. Most had bloated/big bellies, with 2 of them that have passed having normal sized bellies. Which I suspect with the online readings is a swim bladder issue.

I acclimated all the fish for roughly an hour an a half, first by floating the bag for 20 mins then slowly adding water bottlecap by bottlecap into their bag.

All the other fish in the tank, which I got on the same day, 2 Black Mollies and 4 Julii Corydoras seem fine, swimming happily and exploring and eating fine. Also to point out that none of the rummy nose tetra have eaten since I got them. Have tried micro pellets, flakes, live baby brine shrimp and live moina (water fleas/kutu air), they dont seem to be interested at all. The food all end up either sinking to the bottom where the corys eat them or stay floating where the mollies eat them.

So I have no clue what’s going on and can’t find much answers to this issue. All of them have their red noses when the balance loss thing happened. I’ve attached some pictures of the fish that is currently experiencing this. The fish circled in yellow is the same fish in all the pictures.

Current tank setup as below, I am using test strips so there are ranges in some of the chemical readings.

10.2 gallon tank (60cmx28cmx23cm), have been cycled for over 2 months with fancy guppies previously stocked.
Water changes previously once a week, 30%
Ammonia: 0
NO2: 0
NO3: Between 10-25
CL2: 0
TCL: 0
GH: Between 25-50
KH: Between 0-40
pH: Between 6.4-6.8
Temperature: 26 Degrees Celsius

Using API Ammonia test kit & Yee 7-in-1 Aquarium test strips to test the water.

If anyone has any idea what is wrong with them do let me know, kinda tired of burying a fish in my garden every hour.

Thanks!

[Colu]

Your water parameters look fine the only thing a can think of is osmotic shock what I would do is add some aquarium salt 1 table for 3 gallons help replenish much needed   electrolytes 

Edited September 20, 2022 by Colu

[Stroy15]

I also recommend a hospital net or floating breeding container to prevent this tetra from attempting to craw under something and dying there. Put a loose plant in there, like java moss or moss ball if you have it, so they have something to lean against. At the moment I am experiencing something similar with a bloodfin tetra with a damaged swim bladder for the past several weeks. You can reply here if you have more questions.

[Talonlock]

On 9/21/2022 at 4:47 AM, Stroy15 said:

I also recommend a hospital net or floating breeding container to prevent this tetra from attempting to craw under something and dying there. Put a loose plant in there, like java moss or moss ball if you have it, so they have something to lean against. At the moment I am experiencing something similar with a bloodfin tetra with a damaged swim bladder for the past several weeks. You can reply here if you have more questions.

Sadly the rummy nose in the picture has passed. I’ve taken it out and buried it. Down to 4 now but they all seem to be fine, they all ate a bit of the micro pellets now.

Is it normal for 8/12 of the rummy nose tetras I got experienced this? They all passed the same way. I read your post and your bloodfin has been surviving for quite a few weeks where as mine did not even survive 48 hours.

On 9/21/2022 at 3:43 AM, Colu said:

Your water parameters look fine the only thing a can think of is osmotic shock what I would do is add some aquarium salt 1 table for 3 gallons help replenish much needed   electrolytes 

Thank you for the suggestion, I did a 50% water change in hopes that it will help and also added the salt. Here’s hoping the remaining 4 will survive. Kinda worried about my plants in there now with the salt.

Can the fish experience osmotic shock even after acclimation? Because I followed the online and the shop’s instructions, float for a while and then slowly added water. I didn’t have any extra airline tubing so I used the bottlecap method until the water in the container doubled before adding them into the tank.

[Talonlock]

Update: 2 more have passed. Same symptoms and behaviours before they passed, all with the weird swimming at first before landing and eventually stop breathing. I’m down to 2 from 12.

The other species of fish in the tank seem fine. I honestly don’t know what’s going on with the rummy noses.

This time I took photos before I buried them. Only weird(maybe) thing I could identify is one had red marks on the belly and another had green.

 

[Colu]

Nothing jumping out me in your picture what you could do quarantine the last two add a larger dose of aquarium salt 1 table for 2 gallons and maracyn just a in case there possible bacterial infection 

[Talonlock]

On 9/21/2022 at 10:38 PM, Colu said:

Nothing jumping out me in your picture what you could do quarantine the last two add a larger dose of aquarium salt 1 table for 2 gallons and maracyn just a in case there possible bacterial infection 

Yeap I have quarantined the last 2, unfortunately I don’t have any extra unused tanks in my house so they are in a 5 gallon bucket with a seeded sponge filter right now. Would be a tad bit tricky to monitor them in it though until I get another tank tomorrow.

Unfortunately maracyn and all other Fritz products are not stocked where I am in Malaysia, even online there’s only bacterguard available from Fritz.

I’ve added the salt and this general wide spectrum medicine which is commonly used here called S1, which is supposed to help with bacterial infections. Link below. https://shopee.com.my/product/112633106/1911873453?smtt=0.158998784-1663777931.9

Any other suggestions on meds that might help? On hand I also have Ocean Free General Aid, White Spot and Gill, Fungus & Parasite. But don’t think any of those will help though.

 

[Colu]

Am not sure what the active ingredient is in the s1 treatment so I don't no how effective it would be at this point i think it would be worth doing a course of s1 as it seem readily available and your down to two fish it a roll of the dice as whether the others pull though even with treatment @Talonlock

Edited September 21, 2022 by Colu

[Stroy15]

It's very unfortunate. I think since these fish are new its Neon Tetra disease/syndrome, or new fish pre-existing complications. where the fish you got had pre-existing conditions of general weakness from holding tanks and transport were they catch diseases and are in danger of dying soon after bring them home. There are videos on if from aquarium co-op if you want to learn more to try to avoid these problems in the future.