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The Loach Forum Archives (1)
Lemon Tetra update
Posted By: Wintek <wintek@aol.com>
Date: Monday, 9 August 1999, at 11:59 p.m.
Hello
May 19th I introduced 9 lemon tetra's into my 60 U.S. gallon planted tank. May 23rd I returned 3 fish, all alive, with obvious problems that I can't remember. In the days prior and after adding these fish I had done a major pruning in the tank. May 29th the first lemon tetra died. June 5th a cardinal tetra died. At this point I'm wondering what is wrong other than stress associated with moving fish. June 7th my pH is mysteriously low, and the lemons are freaking. I start adding baking soda instead of water changes because at the same time copper is being added to the water resivour to kill off algae. On June 19th I find many spherical lumps in the body cavity of a dead cardinal tetra. Didn't record date of same for lemon tetra. June 29 copper clears tap water, resume 50% 50/50 tap water/purified water changes. Didn't record last cardinal tetra death with no spherical nodules. Started with 6 lemon tetras, 14 cardinal tetra's, now have 1 lemon tetra and 7 cardinal tetra's. The lone remainig male m. praecox died June 22. The remaining lemon tetra shows good color, and is active again, but has a bent spine and does this really freaky spinning move when stressed, like when eating.
Out of all that, here's what I deciphered. Both flavors of tetra's died of an ammonia spike combined with the copper in the tank. The spheres were eggs. The plants had overtaken the biological filter function, because I thinned out too many plants, the ammonia spiked temporarily. The bent spine and the rainbow fish deaths were from fish T.B. or similiar pathenogenic infection.
Here's what I have learned. The plants are a really important part of the balance in a tank. Thinning out too many at once is a bad idea.
Not that I know what I'm talking about :)
Wintek
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