Red lines dying one... one... one...

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Andyroo

Andyroo

Redtail Catfish
MFK Member
Apr 17, 2011
1,215
514
150
MoBay, Jamaica
www.seascapecarib.com
Have you tested your water?
No
If I did not test my water...
  1. ...I recognize that I will likely be asked to do a test, and that water tests are critical for solving freshwater health problems.
Do you do water changes?
Yes
If I do not change my water...
  1. ...I recognize that I will likely be recommended to do a water change, and water changes are critical for preventing future freshwater health problems.
Had five tiny grow-outs until one vanished in Aug,
Four doing/growing beautifully with cardinals & one small angel in a 20gal with reasonable current.
Yesterday, one dead on bottom in afternoon, another this morning, another swimming funny now - within 36hrs.

Do they have a habit of freaking & glass-bashing?
or might it be something else?
Cards all fine, actually growing for the first time in 8months, angel also appears fine.
These redlines have always been fairly calm.
70% water (rainwater, usual source) change done this AM, and without freak-out. Both fish fine this AM, now one swimming funny.
Thoughts?

Rarely imported (these are the only I know of) & as a schooling fish even two was going to be problematic. Might the remaining school with silverdollars? Irid sharks? Assuming any survive, that is...
 
Picture of setup they are in
 
I feel as though there could be quite a few things at play here.

Pollutant in rainwater that wasn't there before?
Not enough oxygen?
CO2 dosing if the tank is planted (they cannot tolerate it)?
Stress/stunting from being in a too-small tank (even if it's a growout) for too long?
Something scared them and they bashed as you suggested (it could be that something scared them which didn't before)?

Can you provide any more information to help gauge how likely these may be?
 
Thanks for everybody's inputs.
Stunting from tank size should be starting pretty soon, certainly erring to cramped now - 20gal isn't nearly enough, even at long&tall with current.

I'm thinking this death-event was related to head-bashing from "excitement" as the carpenter was down here at least once through the previous afternoon, the second death some manner of related latent injury that I didn't see coming initially. Third was precipitated by a bonk-noise behind me (we were working in the office) but the fish seems to have rallied with calm, added plants/almond leaves/cover, reduced flow and maybe the water-change also - fingers crossed, looking better now regardless.
So, I expect a bit of water-change & plant/cover replacement neglect over Xmas (isn't it supposed to be an erring to relaxing time to get caught up on stuff???) combined with 20gal cramping for underlying stress, all finally touched-off with people moving about & exacerbated by per-death reduced school size for "dithering" calming/comfort.

So, they're now down to a pair - not great for a schooling critter and I've asked importer for timelines. Meantime:
IYE, do head-banshing fish only hit the clear/view panel (glass), or will they also head-long into plywood tank sides? I appreciate that decoration can also be an issue, yes. IE am I better to move them to the all-glass 55, or to the front-panel 240 where there's silver dollar & goby dithers, but also an RBS & predation risk with 7" arowana? Do I move the grow-out irids early to add both dither & predator attention-grab?
 
Have those same fish myself the smaller they are the more fragile they are IMO with the water parameters. I purchased 16 of them around 1-2 inches in size and they started to belly up within 24 hours while my daisy rice fish that has been living in the same tank was not fazed. Upon investigation I noticed my cat chewed the airline tubes so there was not enough water movement to dissolve the oxygen into the water column PLUS the black diamond blasting media had magnetic pieces in it…. As the nerite snails were not thriving either. When i removed the questionable sand and the airline tubes were addressed the 4 remaining roseline started to regain their colors. Have 6 adults in another tank. Never seen them skittish banging on glass same with the smaller ones they come from high oxygenated waters IMO it’s important to add airstones
 
I've moved the redlines out of the 20 into the darker 55 with a bit of flow & clumpy-plants. Angels (breeding attempt...) & black ghost grow-outs in there, also.
They are getting calmer & starting to eat again since yesterday. Meanwhile the cards remaining in the 20 are looking a lot more relaxed now; I didn't realize they weren't 100%
 
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