my glowlights are kicking the can :(

beetlebz

sooo my room in the basement kept getting hotter and hotter, and I checked the temp of the tank to find the temps had climbed to 80-82 degrees F. I added zip loc bags with some water and ice, and floated them one at a time in a quiet corner, and over the course of 2 or 3 days got the temp down to 75-76. Now I use an AC to keep the room cool, and the temp is stable.

at any rate, as soon as i got the temperature down one of the tetras started hanging out at the top of the tank. he wouldnt gasp at the surface, he just stayed a few inches below the top of the water, and he stopped eating. His colors completely faded and his belly turned opaque and white. less than a week later I noticed one was missing, and the other day vaccuming I found him hidden behind some decorations dead :(

monday I see another one start to get pale, his colors eventually faded, and weds night I found him stuck to the filter intake, his belly was opaque and white too :(

ANYWAY the tank is a 29 gal, holding steady at 75 degrees, and every other fish in the tank is lively and happy as they were 2 weeks ago. the remaining inhabitants are 14 (now 12) glowlight tetras, 2 bala sharks, 2 cory cats and 1 pleco.

I dont have params yet but I'm going out to petco (shudder) in about 10 minutes to buy a test kit. any ideas?

jones57742

yes: been there before

Glowlights are apparently very sensitive.

I started with 7, several died, I added 5 more and I am now back to 7.

I have had about the same "luck" with neons.

The best luck which I have have with tetras other than silver dollar tetra's has been with Red Minor Serpae Tetra.

This is a weird story but I believed that I needed some "red fish" to add to my aquarium.

I happened to be at PetCo and they had some tetras which I cannot remember the label of but which was incorrect.

Via subsequent research I determined them to be Red Minor Serpae Tetra.

I purchased 11 of them (as best as I remember) and still have 10 alive and growing in my tank.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...fm?pCatId=2521

Please note that my local PetCo can order "a ton" of different types of fish and the cost is significantly less than procuring them over the Internet.

TR

beetlebz

once again I owe you thanks, Jones. I started with 4 neons and 4 glowlights. the glowlights were rock solid while the neons died almost instantly, which is why I bought more glowlights. Hopefully with the tank stable that should be the last of the little buggers I have to bury for quite some time.

I just got back with some lava rock, an API freshwater master test kit, a stuffed hedgehog for my ferrets, a bone for the dog, a new water bottle for the rat, and a new backing for my aquarium. god im an awful impulse buyer :)

fish_4_all

One thing to consider in the futre is to not drop the water temp so drastically. 82F was not too high for the fish for the most part. My temp regularly gets up 84 during the summer on a hot day and goes down to 78-80 at night.

I haven't had the problems with neons though as I purchased 21 of them as little baby feeders and right now have 18 of them left after 8+ months along with an albino glo lite tetra that was in the same tank as the neons and got for the same price. (3/$1) I have even run wothout a hood on for 3-4 months now without any of them jumping out.

beetlebz

ok ran my snazzy new API test kit...

ph is around 7.4
ammonia is 4ppm
nitrates 5ppm
nitrite is 0

aaaand when I came in 2 more tetras were stuck to the filter :(:(:( I did a water change.. about 30% and ill check the numbers again in the morning.