Mysterious Rummynose Deaths

[abcdefghi]

On Wednesday I picked up 10 rummynose tetra for my 55G, this morning before I left for work I checked and all 10 were fine, swimming in their tight little group.

I get home from work around 4pm and find 2 dead, 1 stuck to each of my HOB filter inlets. The other 8 of them look fine, bright red faces, bright tails, the 2 dead ones have no outward signs of disease (not that I could probably tell without a microscope). Surely they are not so small as to be sucked onto the intake? one filter is a Whisper 60, the other an AC110.

Ammonia and Nitrite are both 0, Nitrate is 10, pH is 7.0, temp is 78F. Tankmates are 3 angels, who from what I have observed pay no attention to the tetras, and 8 peppered cory cats. I have attached a couple of pictures of the tetras, as you can see they have good color. They are very active, eating, swimming all around.

I am most likely going to carry out a PWC later this evening, if nothing else just to help ease my mind about the water condition (and also make it a bit easier to carry out a headcount on the cory cats). Water change schedule is once or twice a week of approx 30% minimum, using Prime as the dechlor.

Any clues as to what killed the tetras?

Thanks.

 

[Blueiz]

How long did you acclimate them? Rummy nose tetras are a fish that is more sensitive than others to change. In the pix, they do look as tho there color is faded, not sure if thats because of the flash of the camera or not, but it could be a sign of stress.

Personally Id keep the lights turned off as much as possible for a few days to allow them to settle in, and just reduce stress as much as possible for now. If it is a prob with acclimatization, hopefully it will work itself out soon and you wont loose anymore. Do you know the PH of the water they came from?

 

[Riiz]

Its not uncommon, some fish just die with no outward signs. It could of just been the stress of moving, who knows. Whats great with rummynoses, is if they lose that red, then you know something is wrong.

 

[cherule]

I've heard that rummies are especially suseptible to transport shock. If they make it into your tank, they are usually ok. But other factors can play a part too. I got 5...the guy that netted them was very rough in my opinion...one was dead by the next morning. Another went missing...no body ever found. I brought the one I found dead back. It was replaced and I got 5 more who were netted by a much more gentle woman. They have all been fine since then...their little red noses have become very bright and they school nicely! They are really a lovely fish!

 

[eveliens]

Rummys don't not transport well. I bought 9 rummys from the same source (first 5, then 4 died and I returned them) and only one survived past 48 hrs. They did the same thing as yours: bright noses, really active, then dead. This was with near-perfect water conditions and drip acclimating. I bought 7 more since then from different sources and have not had any problems at all.

 

[jaysen]

i had 12 and 5 have died over a short time. these fish are very sensitive and are known to "just die' out of the blue. just keep the tank as well as you can without any sudden changes in ph or temp and hopefully the remaining will survive. they are a beautiful fish but not as hardy as others such as red eye tetras or harlequin rasboras.

 

[Rbishop]

1. Transport/acclimation shock.
2. Bad stock to begin with.
3. The angels.

 

[BoredAgain]

The sensitivity is one of the reasons I decided against rummies and went with a hardier tetra. I am curious about your acclimation process, if any. Also, you should be able to return the fish to the store, take a water sample for them to test...most around here require a water sample before they will exchange or refund purchases when dead fish are involved.

 

[abcdefghi]

To answer some questions, my pH is very close to the LFS pH (I usually test both pH and tank at the same time when getting new fish), I acclimate by floating the bag and adding water gradually over the course of about an hour. My tap water is a much lower/acidic pH, but I maintain my tank as close to 7.0 as possible (using crushed coral). The other 8 are still swimming fine, bright red noses, eating well. They mostly hang out in one corner, but can be seen venturing all over the tank. The angels still for the most part ignore them (they are too interested in talking to the filter intakes, and chasing each other around) but I am not ruling out that it was them, I just feel like if it was the angels they would have eaten the tetras.

I did notice the guy was pretty rough when he was netting them at the LFS, and took several minutes to get them all (only 1 left in the tank when he was done, maybe I should have taken all 11)........... the guy also took plenty of time catching the cory cats. I did think about taking the 2 dead ones back for a replacement, but usually when I am not sure how the fish died I don't like to do this incase the new fish dies the same way.......... I know that means me losing money, but I would prefer to lose $5 than get 2 more fish and have them die.

Jaysen: How is the moss wall coming along? I was reading the thread yesterday and debating giving it a try.

 

[jaysen]

the wall needs trimming and still has some short and slow growing patches. it is a nice project but in the future i would use christmas or flame moss instead. im just bored with all the java moss lol. try keeping some more hardy tetras for a little while and see how they hold up. my red eyes tetras, glolight tetras, and harlequin rasboras have been amazingly hardy.