At least that's all I can think of to describe it. I recently purchased 4 rummynose tetras from my lfs, for the first day everything was great. They were all schooling wonderfully with my existing rummynose and seemed quite happy. I purchased the fish last Friday and as of now, 4:30 Monday, only one remains and is currently knocking on deaths door. No changes in diet or anything else that I know of.


All of the effected fish became quite lethargic, and within about 6 to 8 hours of doing so developed white tails. Not a very good explanation I know but i really looked like the fish from about half way back had been cooked. Tail fins started to shrivel up into nothing, and white spots appeared on a few mouths. Water levels are very good pH about 7.4, ammonia 0ppm, nitrite probably around 0.5 ppm, and nitrate around 20-40 ppm. This is a 55 gallon tank which has been running for a week with water and filter media from two other tanks of mine. ( No problems in the other tanks at all) Currently running a Marineland Emperor 400 and housing 2 angels, 4 Bolivian rams, and 9 rummynose tetras. I've been changing water on my normal schedule of about 5-10 gallons every day to every other day. Today I did a 50% water change and added some aquarium salt.

Also, while removing one of the dead fish earlier today I noticed a strange spot around the stomach area of the fish and with the slightest pressure I gave my unlucky friend a squeeze. To my surprise his stomach burst open and many tiny white dots came from him. I'm not sure if this is relevant but figured I would include it.

Any ideas on how dangerous this is for my other fish, what it could have been and how to treat it will be much appreciated. Thanks.

I would be curious to see what everyone else has to say. I had the same thing happen to 6 rummy nose tetras I bought from my LFS 2 months ago. They all died very quickly, and all my existing fish were fine.

Oh man - it sounds like it could be a whole heck of a lot of things. The white spots could be anything from a parasite to a fungus or even a bacteria infection. It might be hard pinning down exactly what's going on.

One thing for sure that I can tell you is that no matter how stable a fish tank is that moving a fish from one body of water to the next is stressful. So any disease that the fish was living with in the fish store may have an opportunity to overtake the fish once they've been shocked a little from the move. Even a different pH from tank one to tank two can mess with a fish and their ability to fight infections for a while until they are fully acclimated and stress-free.

Good luck on finding out what's going on!

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Sounds like possible parasites - from the exploding white dots - but not sure...

How did you acclimate them? There is a sticky on the forum about drip acclimation. It helps reduce death from shock right away to even months from when you put the fish in.

Also, the tank running with the previously cycled filter media is going to help, but I don't know as the tank has completely cycled, since it's all new gravel and decor as well.

What other fish are in the aquarium? Maybe it was too many fish in a new aquarium?

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I floated the bags for about 15 then added a little bit of water from the aquarium. I let the tank run with about 30 gallons of water from the old tank and filter media for about a week. Alight ammonia spike but that's it. The tank had 10 other fish in it.

Parasites ususally aren't a quick death. Usually the fish withers away slowly over time. I would try drip acclimating next time and see what happens. Sometimes you just get sick fish.

I agree, its normally a slow process.

Bit of an update. One of the angels has died along with one of the rams. The rummynose from before are starting to show bad signs too. I did another 50% change. I don't think anyone will survive this. I really wish I had an emergency 10 gallon tank, I'll be investing in a nice hospital as soon as I can.

If none of the fish make of through this how can I purify the tank? I was thinking turning the heater up to about 100 degrees and doing a pretty massive water change. Any thoughts?

You might find these threads helpful:
Drip acclimating fish
Info about PH shock, AKA Osmotic Shock.

What are your ammonia and nitrite readings now?
Any more sign of the white dots from other fish?

The levels were well until yesterday when I got a large ammonia and nitrite spike. I did some investigating and found my taps ammonia level was around 25ppm, I don't think this is normal and I don't think it has always been this way. I'm hoping my biological filter doesn't crash due to the ammonia increase from the water change I did yesterday. I think I'm going to leave everything as is for a few days and see how it goes. All of the rummynose in the tank have died from the same sickness that killed the new batch. The three remaining rams and angelfish seem to be doing well now. So I'm hoping all stays well in the tank.

Can you test the ph of your tap? Then at numerous times of the day, test your tank's ph. Post the results here. I wonder if your ph may be fluctuating quite a bit and causing this? Just something to elimnate.