redmare Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 On Monday, I picked up 15 pristella tetras. I drove down 3 hours to a shop I've been very excited to visit! They travelled well and coloured up within a half hour of settling into quarantine. The QT is a 5 gallon with a little bit of black sand, some rocks and wood for cover but not too much so I can still see everywhere, and some java fern and anubias. Temp 78. I keep snails in it all the time to keep it cycled. On the first day I noticed two had slightly torn/nipped dorsal fins, two or three had fairly clamped dorsal fins, and two or three were quite skinny with sunken in tummies. On Tuesday, I fed them in the afternoon and they all ate great, they're such veracious eaters! Very fun to watch. But in the evening, I saw a dead one. He had a clamped dorsal and was one of the skinny ones, but no obvious signs of disease or anything. I added 1 TBSP of salt, just kind of a mild band-aid dose. I've found that the plants I have in there are fine with salt up to 1 TBSP per 2 gallons. Today, Wednesday morning, I woke up to another dead one that must have died early in the night since the snails had already been enjoying it. There's a third one that's floating around the tank like a leaf, kind of swirling about with the water movement, but still quite alive. He got wedged in some moss and has been stuck there for a little bit now, still alive. I doubt he'll make it. He's also very skinny. There's one more that's still active with the rest but has a clamped dorsal, so I wouldn't be surprised if he goes too. All the others are looking really good though- coloured up very nicely, wide happy fins, eating super well, not sunken in bellies. They're still pretty shy when there's no food to lure them out but I think that's to be expected. Is there anything else I should be doing? I have kanaplex but that's the only "real" medication I have or can get. Is this fairly normal fish loss? I've never actually gotten this many fish at once before, so is it just an odds thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris287 Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 I had this happen with rummynose i started with 10 now i'm down to 2. It might be stress. What are your water parameters? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redmare Posted January 27, 2021 Author Share Posted January 27, 2021 Oh of course I forgot to mention that! 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5-10 nitrate, pH 7.5, GH 9, KH 7, 78 degrees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 Unexplained deaths can be bacterial infection but there could something else going I would do 1 course of kanaplex and keep dosing aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 3 gallon to cover all base 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redmare Posted January 27, 2021 Author Share Posted January 27, 2021 32 minutes ago, Colu said: Unexplained deaths can be bacterial infection but there could something else going I would do 1 course of kanaplex and keep dosing aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 3 gallon to cover all base I think a round of antibiotics sounds like a great idea. I'd love to not lose any more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Manifesto Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 (edited) 15 tetras in a 5 gallon tank is going to cause some sort of spike in your cycle. That's a bunch of fish for a small 5 gallon tank. I understand it was cycled, but you just increased the bio-load by a lot, especially if you're feeding them heavier. I would keep up frequent, daily water changes for a little while till I was certain the tank could handle the bio-load. The sunken bellies and clamped fins, are a sign of a few things. definitely run the med trio. Maracyn, Paracleanse, and Ich-X. Also, my experience with this is if the med trio doesn't knock this out, then you'll need stronger deworming meds, like Levamisole. EDIT: just saw the part about the kanaplex, I would use it, but you might need something more. Edited January 28, 2021 by Mr_Manifesto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redmare Posted January 28, 2021 Author Share Posted January 28, 2021 Thanks @Mr_Manifesto! Obviously I wish I had a bigger QT but gotta make do with what you got. I’m doing daily 50% changes and lots of testing of course. I put in the first dose of kanaplex last night. No losses overnight so that’sa good sign! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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