New Celebes Dying

[mindtonic]

OK................I thought I had been doing everything right, but apparently I'm wrong. My 90 gallon has been up and running for a couple of months now. It's planted relatively heavy and has a small stable community of six ottos and four panda cories.

Two days ago, I picked up 10 celebes rainbows from a reputable store. I acclimated the fish for two hours, adding a cup of tank water to the pet store water evey fifteen minutes. I found one floater yesterday and promptly removed it from the aquarium. When my daughter and I woke up this morning and turned the tank lights on, we could only count for remaining celebes! I only found two floaters and removed them.

I didn't think that ten < 1 inch celebes would be a shock to the cycle of a 90 gallon well planted aquarium. What could be going on here?

My parameters as of an hour ago:

Ph 7.0
Ammonia 0
NitrIte 0
NitrAte 5.0
kh 5.0

The fish looked healthy and happy in their new home. What am I missing?

 

[OrionGirl]

How long had the fish been in the store? I'd suspect shipping trauma--unrelated to you or your tank.

 

[Kasakato]

Arnt celebes rainbows brackish? I'm 75% sure that they are. The shock from going from salt to no salt could of done it. If that's not it, you did everything perfectly. So the only other things it can be is the other fish hate them, or the drive home from the store.

 

[mindtonic]

I'll feel really stupid if they are a brackish only fish............

The only info the store provided was:

This beautiful rainbow has some interesting fin patterns. Predominantly silver, the Celebes rainbow has a definite yellow sheen throughout its entire body. The fins are noticably yellow with some black edging. A horizontal, irridescent blue stripe begins mid-body and ends at the base of the caudal. Rainbows are an active, peaceful fish that enjoys schooling, so it is best to keep in groups of 4 or more. They will do well in a peaceful community tank, as well as a slightly more aggressive tank. They aren't too fussy about tank decor but do very well in a planted tank. They will eat a variety of prepared foods including flake, granules, and frozen.

Either way, I'm still hunting for the remaining corpses and am gearing up for the two hour ride to Lancaster to cash in on that five day guarantee.

 

[mindtonic]

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/show_article.php?article_id=196

Water: Ideally slightly hard and alkaline between pH 7.0-8.0, GH 10-20°, 24-27°C/ 75-80°F - so this fish is well suited to most UK tapwater. It's said to occasionally inhabit tidal streams so can tolerate some salt, although this isn't usually necessary.

Maybe it was stress from the long ride. Road construction lengthen our roundtrip ride by almost two hours.

 

[Leopardess]

They are not brackish-only fish. They are freshwater fish. Occasionally, a wild caught fish will be found in near-brackish/brackish waters.

I suspect they were weak. Small rainbowfish like that are notorious for dying off after purchase - much like otos.

 

[Kasakato]

I didn't think so. but the ones at my LFS are labeled as brackish. I think that it was the drive home or something. It could of been a bad stock and you just ended up with the end result.