Cardinal Tetras

T

thadius65

AC Members
Jul 30, 2006
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Great Forum and glad to be a newb member.

I have a 120 gallon aquarium with the following:

Fluval 304
Fluval 404
(2) 300w heaters
(2) 10,000K 36" Flor Lights

Tank was setup last weekend. Took bio material from an older Fluval 304 from an established tank (2 years). Water temp is 81degrees.

Saturday (one week later) added fish. I assumed starting with a few with a light bio load would not be an issue due to the described adding of ceramic bio material from established filter (and its foam pad also). Fish addes were (12) Cardinal Tetras on and (2) Clown Loaches.

I acclamated the fish as I always have. 30 minutes in bag, in aquarium and adding small amounts of water every 15 minutes. I have now lost a total of 5 of the 12 Cardinals with at least one more looking ready to go. They lose a spot of color at top, or rear fins seem messed up (missing). Water sat for many days AND I added dechlorinator. PH is 7.0 and amonia is low (so far).

I looked long and hard to find Cardinals and had to drive 60 miles and pay $4 per.. Now it looks like they all or most are going to die.

Any thoughts? Was I foolish to think I could curb cycling by what I did?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Ted :cool:
 
thadius65 said:
Any thoughts? Was I foolish to think I could curb cycling by what I did?
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Yes and no. What you should have done is add the fish immediatly after adding the established filter media. The bacteria would have died out over the week it was without amonia to feed off of(unless you were feeding it manyallt with bottled amonia) at this point you should be doing daily water changes to keep amonia and nitrates to an absolute minimum. The fact that your stocking level is low is a double edged sword. Right now there wont be much there contributing to the overall polutants in the tank. This will reduce the ammount of water you will need to change, but will also make future additions cause a "mini-cycle" as your bio-filtration will need to build up to the levels needed to support more fish.

Do you have a test kit? what are the numbers from the test results, nitrate nitrite and amonia?

Another thing to consider is that you simply got fish that were already unhealthy to begin with. How reputable is the place you got them from?
 
Yeah Cardinal Tetras are VERY delicate fish and I would never start a tank out with them. Same with the clown loaches. I want to add them to my tank and I was told by a LFS guy that I trust to wait atleast 6 months to make sure my tank is well established before I even try Cardinals. I only have 2 months left before I get them, but I thik it's worth the wait, they are pretty fish!!

As far as your cycle, you did the right thing to "seed" your new tank. It will help speed things up, but you always have to check your water to make sure that you have 0 Ammonia and 0 Nitrite. If you would have chose a more harty fish you might have been OK. Cardinals are a very sensitive, like I said. Make sure to check your water and do water changes as needed, at least once a week, both cardinals and loaches are water quality sensitive!
 
sumthin fishy said:
Untill nitrates are present and amonia and nitrite are not registering on the tests, water changes should be DAILY not weekly.

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64301

there is the nitrogen process in all its detail.
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Yep!! I was talking about after cycle is done though, those fish need good water quality all the time or they die, it's just that simple. Sorry for the mix up.
 
Clarification. The "seed" material was added the evening prior to the new tank inhabitants were added. So about 12hours prior to the bio "load" occuring.
 
Ah, you should still teast and change water daily at this point, but that was the right way to do it. Thank you for the clarification. It is true that both these species are sensitive, so extra care should be used while monitoring the water. Are the fish acting in any way that would indicate disease? is thier breething heavy( a sign of poor water quality/excess amonia)? At this point anything you can tell us would be helpful. Please dont forget, that with such a light stocking, you will need to monitor your water closely if any fish of large size or quantity are introduced, since the ammount of bacteria will not be capable of processing the load untill it grows in numbers sufficient to handle the increase.
 
The remaining 7 Cardinals are schooling and swimming back and forth the 6' width of the tank. The two clowns (good sized) are either hiding in an opening below a large driftwood centerpiece or swimming in circles and up and down the tank sides. Note - I have never seen a pair of clowns so closely bonded. They were the only two in a tank at the LFS. Nice...

I can tell when the Cardinals are in trouble.. They break off the schooling, or their color is gone in a spot, or trouble swimming. The remaining so far are not showing those signs.

All are eating and have been.

I have (12) tank raised Silver Angels coming in a week. Local guy (SchoolAintSoBad ring a bell for anyone?). These will be nickle size.

THANKS!

Ted
 
At my LFS they get Cardinals every 3-4 weeks. When I was stocking my tank I'd buy them after they had been at the LFS for over a week or so. This worked out well.
 
No more dead this morning :thm: .... crossing my fingers. I will do a water change tonight. Any other tips, please let me know.

Thanks!

Ted
 
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