Red eye tetras killing my other fish?

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Mamsby

Registered Member
Dec 13, 2019
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Help! I am relatively new to all of this. We have a 55 gallon planted tank.
pH 7.4
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrites 0 ppm
Nitrates about 20ppm (slightly more red but no where near the next step up of 40ppm)
Using things like Prime and Stability/Pristine and Stress Coat.

We got 6 white skirt tetras and 6 red eye tetras from the pet store after cycling the tank. There was no mini cycle and everything seemed good so we moved over some fish from our smaller tank, 3 zebra danios and 2 albino bristle nose plecos. Everything still good. Then we placed an online order for more fish.
UPS decided to delay our overnight shipping an extra day and manhandle the box. 4 fish were doa or died while acclimating. Another one died a day later. Everyone else seemed healthy. We’ve been trying to move the red eye tetras over to the smaller tank because they are buttheads and it looks like they should be separated and we don’t want the small tank empty. It was kinda the plan from the beginning anyway because my kids love the danios and plecos and wanted them to live in the big pretty tank.

We’ve only gotten 3 tetras out. 2 more fish have come up dead a couple days apart seemingly out of nowhere. The red eyes are the only even slightly aggressive fish. I feed the fish flakes and pellets and bloodworms and veggie rounds 3-4 times throughout the day and all seem to be eating, nothing is left after a few minutes so there isn’t waste building up.

So long story short- is it possible the tetras are killing the other fish? (A dwarf gourami and an angel veil ram) Also, after I got the first 3 the other 3 have become master evaders and hiders, I can’t for the life of me get them out. All the other fish blissfully float around the net or come check it out but the tetras swim straight under the plants and dart to the caves and wont come back out until I’m gone then they are wary any time I approach, I waited for a few days before trying again but they keep the behavior up and now that a gourami is dead that was happy and healthy this morning I’m desperate to get them out - any tips???

49B6D5F8-016D-48BC-B06A-53A1C68F5813.jpeg
 
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FreshyFresh

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Jan 11, 2013
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Welcome and that's a nice looking setup. How long has the 55 been setup?

It's hard to say with the fish deaths. Any time you add a new fish or live critter to a tank, you run the risk of introducing a parasite or disease into the tank that the other inhabitants haven't been exposed to before. It can happen after quarantining even.

I would suggest stopping the use of the meds and chemicals you list and only keep using the seachem prime for your dechlor/water treatment. I prefer to see less than 20ppm nitrates and gear my water changes such that if I do hit 20ppm, it's on the day I do a water change.
 
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Mamsby

Registered Member
Dec 13, 2019
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We started a couple months ago. It took a few weeks to cycle the tank with the help of the media from the old tank. We added the tetras just over 3 weeks ago, the danios and plecos 5 days later and the online order came 12 days ago. The 2 fish that turned up suddenly dead with no signs of disease/illness or even lethargy before hand happened yesterday and 3 days ago. I’ve stopped testing the water daily and am starting to do it once a week, but I’ve been doing 25% water changes when the nitrates are what I esteem to be about 25ppm because I was under the impression I should be trying to keep it at 20ppm is that right? After the cycle the ammonia and nitrites have stayed at 0, plants and the pretty decent amount of surface disturbance from the filter help keep the water oxygenated throughout the week. From what I understand well planted tanks can go 1-2 months without a water change but I’m not interested in testing that and I don’t have that many plants anyway. So far with this plan the water is staying beautiful, no algae problems etc.
 

FreshyFresh

Global Moderator
Staff member
Jan 11, 2013
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West Falls NY
Real Name
Joel
Nitrates at 25ppm isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if it's at 25ppm after your water change, what does it creep up to by day 7?

The amount of food sprinkled into the tank can have a larger effect on that than the critters in the tank.

Another thing that can help your plants is to minimize surface agitation. Agitation causes you to loose CO2 out of the water column that's naturally produced by the tank inhabitants.
 
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