Tetra sucked to death!!!

Jentry

AC Members
Jun 20, 2006
55
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0
Waterford, Ireland
yesterday i put some fish into my new tank (rekord 60, the juwel one with built in filter and heater box), 6 neon tetras and 2 male fancy guppies. this mornin when i came in one of the tetras was stuck halfways in the filter and i think he is in his last few moments of life right now. would this have happened because of there being a problem with the fish that made him sick and so weak that he got sucked in there, or would he just not have been able to swim away r what??
i have a some mesh over the filter slots at the minute(in the form of a thong) to prevent further injury.
 
a healthy and strong fish would be able to swim away and resist the suction of a filter. your tetra must have been sick/injured. check it for wounds or signs of disease and treat it accordingly. check your other fish for these signs as well.

what is your tank size and the water parameters?
 
yes, a healthy fish would not be in your neons position. check you other fish for disease. and could I have you water params, please!
 
hes definitely almost dead, his back end is pretty much after being scraped on each side, and his tail has been a bit trashed form the filter. hes on his side now and gills are very fast. if i used any meth blue on him would it help or is he best left to go to fishy heaven. the tank is about 60 litres temp is between 22 and 24c. i dont know about the ph. i used tap water conditioner to remove cholrine and detox heavy metals.i know that the water is very soft. the pther 5 tetras and the guppies are fine and my little african dwarf frog is grand too.
 
i dont have any way of testing that right now but i do have some of that safe water treatment that removes the ammonia and nitrate, should i use that just in case?
 
I would not go dumping chemicals into your water unless you have some idea of what is wrong. How long has your tank been setup and have you had fish in it the whole time? How many fish were in the tank when you added the new fish and how often do you do water changes? Also, you should really get a test kit, it's a worthwhile investment.
 
its brand new i've only had it set up for 3 days, im totally new to fishkeeping so you'll have to excuse me. they are the first fish ever to be in the tank. i have a piece of bog wood in there also, stuff i bought from the pet shop. i soaked it for a few hours before i put it in the tank, the tannin has still slightly coloured the water so i was planning on changing about half of it tomorrow. i also have natural stones in there(from pet shop) that i spent about an hour rinsing so everything in there is clean. the fish eat regular flakes and the frog eats bloodworm(the fish made a fair go at a piece of bloodworm too but its far too big so they gave up) the fish is now in a separate container as i dont want him to die and toxify my water and im 99% sure he wont recover. thats about it, no more to tell, all the other fish are doing great!
 
Tetras should not be used in a newly setup tank. The tank needs to be cycled. Either a fishless cycle or with some hardy fish. Platys and xebra danios are good cycling fish.Tetras need a mature tank about 6 plus months old. Id be suprised if any of your tetras survive. Its a common mistake beginners make. Just do a 40% water change everyday for the next couple of weeks to keep the ammonia and nitrate levels down.
 
karl1987 said:
Tetras need a mature tank about 6 plus months old.

Erm, why do Tetras need a tank over 6 months old? Once it is cycled what changes with age that Tetras need?
 
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