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Post by Jenny on Feb 19, 2004 11:08:29 GMT -5
My new rummy nosed tetra used to have a bright red/orange nose. This morning all the color is gone and he is just the normal tetra grey with black stripes. Other than the loss of color he is swimming normally. Could the color loss be indicative of a problem with him, or should I not be worried. Does anyone have experience with tetras?
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spiff
Junior Bubble Nester
Posts: 228
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Post by spiff on Feb 19, 2004 21:54:18 GMT -5
I have flame tetras, and sometimes the red is really vibrant, and sometimes it's faded and sort of pale. I don't know if it's a sign of illness or anything, but they seem to act fine.
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Post by mickey85 on Feb 20, 2004 1:00:21 GMT -5
What are the water parameters and how many fish did you put in at the same time? RNT's are very sensitive to water (as are most tetras) and if the ammonia, nitrite or nitrates are even a bit up, you're f*ed. check the levels, and if they're high, do a 30% water change and add some anti-ammonia stuff or whatever it would take.
that's just about the only reason I can think of any fish losing it's color is substandard water conditions...
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Post by Jenny on Feb 20, 2004 3:14:03 GMT -5
It's kinda weird. When I first posted, he had lost all the red color in his nose and head, then about 20 min later it was back. I did about a 30% change of the water, and he stayed fine looking for a couple of hours. Then I left and came back tonight several hours later and his orange color is all gone again. He also seems to be fairly inactive and not schooling with the rest. None of the other tetras have lost any color, and they seem to be swimming and schooling normally.
The lady I talked to at our lps seemed quite knowledgable about tropical fish, and she suggested that I get tetras while the tank was cycling. She said that the types I got (rummy-nosed, bleeding heart, red-eyed, and pengiun) were all hardier tetras while the neon and glowlight were less so.
My tank is a ten gallon and I have in it two female bettas (which are getting together fine now, thankfully) and the four tetras (1 each of the types above). I took some stuff out of an established goldfish tank that hopefully has some bacteria growing on it to help the tank start cycling, and I am planning on doing 30% changes every other day or so for the first week or two.
I have one further question about the tetras. Do they do well with aquarium salt like bettas do? For my bettas I usually use 1/2 tsp per gallon, but I have been leaving it out of this tank because I'm not sure if the tetras will do better with it.
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Post by mickey85 on Feb 20, 2004 10:27:11 GMT -5
I haven't the faintest clue... I do have an idea though - go to www.fishforums.com and ask there. There are people there that would probably know more about it than us. |
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Post by lihairden on Mar 6, 2004 4:26:40 GMT -5
I was looking up tetras since I'm down to 6 1/2 guppies (I say that because one is dying in a hospital tank) and a pleco and am looking into what to get next. I found this:
'Neons do not retain their color at night. If the aquarium lights are suddenly turned on in a dark room you will notice that all the Neons appear colorless. This is normal and their bright colors will return in a matter of minutes'.
What are tetras like to take care of? I'm assuming they eat tropical fish food. When the rest of the guppies die we'll have the 10 gal for them.
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Megan
Junior Bubble Nester
"Golden Pearl" Plakat
Posts: 158
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Post by Megan on Mar 6, 2004 22:20:10 GMT -5
Why are your guppies dieing? Have you medicated or tryed to fix the problem at all?
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Post by lihairden on Mar 7, 2004 0:17:41 GMT -5
No idea. Old age? Overbreeding from the previous tank (we got them from a tank kept at my hubby's work)? Inbreeding? The guppy that's not dying (I think the males were getting too rough with her since she looked a bit beat up) is getting meds and will be put back with the others when the meds are done. The other one's still dying. We orginally got the guppies because I spent $30 on fish at Big Al's that died (and took a healthy pleco that I had for 2 years with them). Everything was fine in the tank (we tested the water after they died). It was a test and a way to cycle the tank (after we cleaned out the tank and all the stuff in it). They bred and we ended up with about 30 at one point. Now I know to cycle a tank with different fish if I decide to go that route again  . |
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