Troubles in quarantine

[redmare]

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?

[Chris287]

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? 

[redmare]

Oh of course I forgot to mention that! 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5-10 nitrate, pH 7.5, GH 9, KH 7, 78 degrees.

[Colu]

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 

[redmare]

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! 

[Mr_Manifesto]

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

[redmare]

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!