Mysterious fish deaths

[Lord Barium]

Recently I bought eight neon tetras. I let them float in the bag for eighteen minutes, and then released them. They were a little woozy but were doing fine and even eating well by the evening.

The next day, two were dead. There bodies had no marks on them, even the fins were intact. Both bodies had an orange-ish covering on their tails up to where the red stripe ends. Another fish in the tank had an orange tail and was not shoaling and acting strange. I quaritined him but he died very shortly. In total, four out of the eight died.

So, I went back to the store and bought more neon tetras (out of the same tank, bad idea.). I decided not to take any chances, and floated them for 10 minutes and then slowly added water over about 30 minutes. I released them. They fed that evening and appeared to be fine

Next morning, one was dead and caught in my java moss.
This morning, another was dead also caught in the java moss.

My tank (20 gallons):

Neon tetras
1 butterfly ram (too scared to do anything)

Java moss
Pennywort

the tank has be set up and running for 5 years. My nitrates and nitrites are at good levels. I recently did a water change. I'm running a penguin bio wheel meant for a 30-40 gallon tank.

 

[Darren87_Sg]

hmm..could it be the LFS u went to the fishes were already contaminated?
but then again if they were contaminated why was it only when after u brought them home they started dying.
maybe u should try to check your water parameters again.could be the fish might not be used to it,the butterfly ram should not be that scared,maybe you can try adding aquarium salt after a 20 per cent water change to see how it goes,guessing its ur water parameters.or try to get a heater to heat the water to 28-30 degrees celsius to equalize the temperature around the tank so your fish will not be afraid so much.and no matter how clean your tank looks or how powerful a filter is the water has to be changed still for the fish to stay healthy.

 

[oscar n redtail cat]

ive had that happen with both my aro and they died the one just didnt grow and the other 1 died in the first week n carnt find the bodys i have been treating them for inturnal parrasites and then he died for no reson i think he wasnt growing fast and the oscars killed him ? :S

 

[Dr_Shakalu]

How much water did you change? Did you add any conditioner to the new water? The conditioner will get rid of chlorine and more importantly chloramine.

 

[Lord Barium]

I changed 20% and added the right amount of water conditioner (I conditioned for the entire tank)

 

[Cichlaholics Anonymous]

you should've quarantined the new fish so you don't put your already established fish and tank in danger of the unknown contaminant.

 

[headbanger_jib]

what about the parameters
how is your butterfly ram doing
if he is doing fine then there must be something wrong with those tetras

 

[Bderick67]

What are the pH levels of your tank and the tank water from the LFS?

 

[Lord Barium]

well the water parameters are about the same (I don't remember the exact parameters), but I know that we both have the same level of alkalinity in our tanks and the PH is like 7 on both tanks (My LFS is really close and and gets the same water as i do). As a response to cichlidaholics, the tank I put them in was my quarintine tank.

The butterfly ram is still hiding, but the other day it came out and was swimming along the front of the tank. It's getting more comfortable.

 

[JoeyCraig3]

i had the same problem with cardinal tetras....they are just really sensitive