fish repo

friendorfoe

AC Members
Mar 7, 2005
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New York
Sorry this is so long....

I repo'ed my brothers cardinal tetras, because he was taking such awful care of them. He had a fish die and i figured it was time to step in before more did. At first i decided i was going to put them in a bucket of 1/2 clean water and 1/2 tank water, and then see how they did, then i was going to put them in my tank. When i started adding fish to the pail though it was a disaster, the fish all either floated or were lieing in the bottom lifeless. After waiting about 10 min 2 of the 3 fish got up and started swimming again. so i figured i would proceed and it would weed out the ones that were close to death. so buy the time i finished i had 10 cardinals all lieing on there sides in the pail. With lack of any other ideas i through together a 10 gallon as a QT. all but one of the fish got up and started swimming. i flushed the dead one and now here i stand. Everything in the new water tests the same as the old tank water....pH temp ammonia nitrite nitrate. The thing about his tank is that it had moldy fish food in the botom....alot of it. I don't know what the mold could have added to the water but it is the only thing that is different. The fish are now swimming but are doing so erradically. what could this be and what could i do? i have added melafix as a precaution, raised the temp to 82 and added salt. what more can i do any help would be apppreciated!
 
I'm no where near an expert so take my advice/ideas on this with a grain of salt.

I think you'll be fine. The fish are moving around and breathing, the eratic swimming is likely due to being shocked by the transfer and should disappear in a few hours or the next few days.

Did you have the temperature matched? Maybe you put them in a bucket of water that was 5 degrees too cold...

Keep us updated! :)

BTW: Did you add any anti-bacterial to the water? You don't want to contaminate your new tank.
 
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yes, i tested both the tank water and the new water for ALL the things i mentioned. the temperatures were exactly the same. also by eradic swimming i mean that my fish are swimming upside dow and on there sides, the act like they are dead, laying on the bottom and then a few minites later are up and swimming again.

....the tank i added these fish to does have mela fix in it, but there is absolutley nothing else in the tank, i just threw it together quickly, there isn't even any substrate.
 
the pail was fine. In my brother tank they were acting ok, but last week he had one die, with the same type of actions. that fish layed in the bottom flapping for 2 days before it dies, and then once it was dead he left it in the tank for a while cause he was being lazy....
 
since i last posted i have noticed that they all at times swim along the bottom of the tank, and are swimming kinda on there sides. i can't come up with anything. Can anyone tell me the symptoms of NTD?
 
Loss of color is typically the first symptom of NTD.

What were the test results from the old tank? Before any water changes, etc.
 
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