Tank was fine for months. Had 3 emperor tetras in a QT tank waiting to get in and 4 flame tetras in QT. In main tank my powder blue gourami I noticed was sitting at the top or bottom of tank in the corners which is not like him he normally swims out in front of the glass. I also noticed he stopped eating but looked fat so I put him in a hospital tank ( not my QT tank fyi) that is at the same temp and has cycled healthy water, but is bare bottom with a filter and a place to hide. I thought since he was so fat but not eating that it was bloat so I dosed him with a medicine and within an hour he died, although he was acting weird and looked a little funny he in no way seemed like he was on deaths door. But I thought ok it happens, and the QT period was up for the tetras so I put the flame tetras in the tank 1st because they were getting pretty beat up in the QT tank since they are so tiny and in the recent days had nipped fins, one by one they died (still cant find the body of the last but cant see him either so assume dead). They were kinda beat up so I wasnt terribly surprised. Then in the next few days I added the emperor tetras. Now the day after the emperors were added one of my GBR started acting funny and today I found him in a piece of decor dead, but I saw it coming as he stopped eating and was hovering but still mobile a little and "attempted" to eat like he would go up to the top at feeding and peck at it but didnt take anything that I could tell. Also oddly when I found his body (in decor so unaffected by current or other fish) he had poop coming out that was pretty normal looking IMO. Also a fyi the tetras in QT got along until the last week of 4 and then the emperors seem to have gotten fed up with the little flames and started shredding fins, they were alive together and healthy for 4 weeks.
So thats the damage so far, but tonight I saw one of my emperor tetras (not one of the new ones but one of the old ones I have had for 4 months or so) was hiding in a piece of decor (since removed) and pecked at food but did not actually eat it. All other fish seem fine. Water parameters were perfect but I just did a 50% wc (75 gallon tank) just to get junk out since a fish had died and cleaned my filters. Water is a steady 80 deg F. No other fish have any signs of problems and I cannot tell for certain whether the tetra is sick or if he was not hungry (it was the second feeding of the night once I noticed him in the house I wanted to see if he would eat). I do not suspect bullying to this tetra as his is by far the largest emperor tetra by about 25%, is fully grown, and is the alpha male of the school of 6.
So any comments/ideas on whats happening here? Months ago ( I think it was 4 or 5 now?) I had what I thought to be a columnaris infection that killed something like 6 fish but I treated and immediately the deaths stopped. While I know that it can come back if it truly was columnaris these fish do not present with the same symptoms, while they do seem to die quickly once I notice something wrong they show no outward signs of disease save looking a little bloated (not huge but as if they were slightly fat).
So thats the damage so far, but tonight I saw one of my emperor tetras (not one of the new ones but one of the old ones I have had for 4 months or so) was hiding in a piece of decor (since removed) and pecked at food but did not actually eat it. All other fish seem fine. Water parameters were perfect but I just did a 50% wc (75 gallon tank) just to get junk out since a fish had died and cleaned my filters. Water is a steady 80 deg F. No other fish have any signs of problems and I cannot tell for certain whether the tetra is sick or if he was not hungry (it was the second feeding of the night once I noticed him in the house I wanted to see if he would eat). I do not suspect bullying to this tetra as his is by far the largest emperor tetra by about 25%, is fully grown, and is the alpha male of the school of 6.
So any comments/ideas on whats happening here? Months ago ( I think it was 4 or 5 now?) I had what I thought to be a columnaris infection that killed something like 6 fish but I treated and immediately the deaths stopped. While I know that it can come back if it truly was columnaris these fish do not present with the same symptoms, while they do seem to die quickly once I notice something wrong they show no outward signs of disease save looking a little bloated (not huge but as if they were slightly fat).
