My fish are dying, parasites?
- Thread starter Lars6
- Start date
I've used loctite gel super in my aquariums to hold anubias to rocks. Hold a few songs to set and in the tank it goes. From what I found, as long as it's cyanoacrylate, it's aquarium safe and the water helps with bonding. The tank with glue has been going for about 2 years with the same group of neolamprologus in it. I think I glued about 10 anubias plants.
I held it in place for a few seconds until the plant stayed, then went directly to the tank. Alot of reef keepers use it on coral also.
Why do you think it was the dragon stone?
Most cardinal tetras are wild caught, and may carry parasites.
Since you have not stated what your water parameters are, but...., if your tap water is hard, this can cause enough stress in cardinals, that a normally benign bacteria can become a problem (especially if there are no tannins in the water), and in the confines of a tank, become epidemic enough to also infect the cichlid (especially one) that also prefers soft, tannin rich, low pH water.
Water are your tap water parameters? pH, hardness, alkalinity
which can come by calling your water provider.
Without the tap parameters, and your tanks water parameters,
Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH.
it will pretty hard to reasonably diagnose the problem.
Most cardinal tetras are wild caught, and may carry parasites.
Since you have not stated what your water parameters are, but...., if your tap water is hard, this can cause enough stress in cardinals, that a normally benign bacteria can become a problem (especially if there are no tannins in the water), and in the confines of a tank, become epidemic enough to also infect the cichlid (especially one) that also prefers soft, tannin rich, low pH water.
Water are your tap water parameters? pH, hardness, alkalinity
which can come by calling your water provider.
Without the tap parameters, and your tanks water parameters,
Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH.
it will pretty hard to reasonably diagnose the problem.
My tank’s water perameters are as follows:
-Ammonia - 0
- Nitrite - 0
- Nitrate - 20
- Ph - 7.6
I don’t have a water hardness testing kit but when I looked up water hardness in my area online, I got some results that said “moderately hard”.
I will try to test the ph of my tap water tomorrow. I’m pretty sure that it will be relatively similar to my tank water. Regarding the dragon stone, I had been concerned that the loctite super glue gel I used to attach moss to the rock was poisoning the water. I don’t think this is the case anymore because someone else said that they have used the exact product and had no problems. I’m scared to restock with another 12 cardinals this weekend and then lose them all again.
-Ammonia - 0
- Nitrite - 0
- Nitrate - 20
- Ph - 7.6
I don’t have a water hardness testing kit but when I looked up water hardness in my area online, I got some results that said “moderately hard”.
I will try to test the ph of my tap water tomorrow. I’m pretty sure that it will be relatively similar to my tank water. Regarding the dragon stone, I had been concerned that the loctite super glue gel I used to attach moss to the rock was poisoning the water. I don’t think this is the case anymore because someone else said that they have used the exact product and had no problems. I’m scared to restock with another 12 cardinals this weekend and then lose them all again.
If your water is hard, (a 7.6 pH is a semi- indication), wild caught cardinals may not be the wisest choice for your tank.
One of my lusted after fish for years, was Uaru fernadenzepizzi , but my water was very similar to yours, and as most of these are also wild caught in low 4ish pH water, they are not realistic for my tanks, so I went with fish more suited for my water.
You can get a hardness test strip, available at pool supply venders, or simply call your water department and ask, to get specifics.
One of my lusted after fish for years, was Uaru fernadenzepizzi , but my water was very similar to yours, and as most of these are also wild caught in low 4ish pH water, they are not realistic for my tanks, so I went with fish more suited for my water.
You can get a hardness test strip, available at pool supply venders, or simply call your water department and ask, to get specifics.
You will read many erroneous things about how fish can adapt, even though many are quite adaptable to many varied conditions, some are not, especially those wild caught in black water.
Some are just not adaptable, after billions of years life in a specific environment (like Amazon black water rivers), which may include seasonal changes , like a period of time where tannins permeate the flooded forest, and unless they have been bred for years under aquarium conditions, and unless you can adapt your tanks to at least some of those conditions you may be fighting a loosing battle.
Some adapt when young, but get long term chronic, scarring maladies as they age.
Captive bred, in your area's tap water, would be the most reasonable way to go.
There were aquarist friends in my area who were successful with, and able to even breed cardinals.
These people mixed RO with the hard tap water, and mixed tannins in when doing water changes.
They collected leaves in fall, soaking them for long periods in buckets to extract the anti-bacterial tea like water. I did the same for certain species of killifish.
Some are just not adaptable, after billions of years life in a specific environment (like Amazon black water rivers), which may include seasonal changes , like a period of time where tannins permeate the flooded forest, and unless they have been bred for years under aquarium conditions, and unless you can adapt your tanks to at least some of those conditions you may be fighting a loosing battle.
Some adapt when young, but get long term chronic, scarring maladies as they age.
Captive bred, in your area's tap water, would be the most reasonable way to go.
There were aquarist friends in my area who were successful with, and able to even breed cardinals.
These people mixed RO with the hard tap water, and mixed tannins in when doing water changes.
They collected leaves in fall, soaking them for long periods in buckets to extract the anti-bacterial tea like water. I did the same for certain species of killifish.
