Could assassins be killing my fish?

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Lepisosteus platyrhincus

Polypterus
MFK Member
Nov 9, 2008
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In the caiman den
Not sure if they are or if its possible. I had a school of 15 neon tetras but now have 1. They have been steadily dieing one a day. All have been strangly paralizied. They are alive but have almost no movement in thier body. Then they die! But oddly enough I dont remove the bodys! The snail army(HUGE amount of snails) eat them. The body is completely gone by the next day then another one is paralyzed.
Now i know that assassin are supposed to be fish and shrimp friendly but i do know that they are oppurtunist and could eat anything given the chance.
I have found only 2 snails dead because of the assassins. there is 4 assassins snails. But i find about 4 or 5 new egg sacks a week from my MTS, Pouch and ramshorn snails. Rams have the most by far, then pouch then only a few young MTS. But the MTS are in the sand until the evening so an accurate count is difficult. Im assuming that the assassins are focusing on young snails but im not sure.
Anyways could my assassins happen to be killing my neons? if not then what?
 
maybe the assasin will kill your last fish... you should convert your fish too a different tank, then wait and hope that you spot the assasin...
 
water pers? I wouldnt leave the dead fish in the tank. that can't be doing much good for the fish that are still alive in the tank
 
What are your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate levels? How long have you had the tetras? Have you ever read about neon tetra disease? And why are you leaving the dead fish in the tank? The other fish might be helping eat them, as well.
 
Never heard of neon tetra diesies. what is it?
im not leaven the dead in. the snails get them before i can remove them. They litteraly are GONE with in a few hours.
ammonia is barely viasable(not even .1), nitrate and nitrite are 0. Man i got some good water! lol. The ammonia is because of a new tank but at the Ph of my water(7.2) it is nowhere near high enough to be causeing the problems.
There are no other fish. It was meant to be a snail only tank but i got some neon tetras to add to it for company. Its my only tank in the living room. rest are in the fish room also know as the mud room.
BTW incase anybody doesnt know what i mean by assassins, they are assassin snails.
 
There shouldn't be ammonia. The presence of ammonia is a sign something's wrong with your biological filter. Also, the lack of nitrate suggests the tank might not be completely cycled. As for neon tetra disease, a quick google search will pull up all of the info. I'm not sure that's what's going on, but I think anyone who keeps neons should at least be aware of it, and the symptoms. However, with the ammonia and lack of nitrates, I'm guessing this is related to water quality, but it never hurts to be sure.
 
it is a newly set up tank but as stated before the amount of ammonia at my current ph is substantialy too low to cause any issue. Water quality other than the very very low amount of ammonia is fine so there is a very good chance it isnt water quality. could be wrong but pretty sure it isnt that.
Ill have to look up that disease. thanks
 
How long had you had the neons? I would think it would be very difficult for an assassin to take down a full sized neon. I could see it with fry. I keep them with my cpd's, pygmaeus cories, and apisto fry with no losses.
 
i had them for about 2 weeks. i have 1 alive and 1 paralyzd left. thats it!
 
i agree, water quality issue, neons are like the most delicate of fish, ive had them die from simply netting them to another tank
 
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