Help With Sick Cardinals

[FunkSolid]

I recently acquired a group of Cardinal Tetras, and over the past week or so I have been losing ~ 1 fish per day. They are in a 10G QT tank with perfect water chemistry (have been doing 75% W/C every 48 hours or so). I have tried feeding them Angels Plus Deworm 3 (Levamisole) flakes over 48 hours, but are still losing them. My real concern is that I have a group of M. maccullochi in the same tank and I REALLY dont want any harm to come to them. So far they have remained healthy, and are starting to color up. All the Cardinals seem to be eating well, and dont look sick, but every morning I find at least one dead.

I tried to shoot a video in 1080p60 so you experts could potentially diagnose and prescribe a treatment.

Thanks Friends

https://youtu.be/ektaSlDCtJ4

Edited February 21, 2016 by FunkSolid

[Jayba]

If I was to take a couple guesses I would say. Wild caught fish used to soft acidic water and having cellular level.

Also, due to the high number of Apistogrammas (and other south american fish) that suffer from wasting, Flubendazole is now a painless part of my QT process. It has all but eliminated wasting for me. But hey....what do I know. ;-)

Edited February 22, 2016 by Jayba

[geleen]

Looks like internal parasites to me ..and I am a real expert you know LOL..... instead of lavimisol try flubendazole like Jay suggest

It is a dog wormer if your local FS doesn't have it. Add to aquarium water at the suggested dosage stir well and add over an hour period.

You could in addition up the temp to 85 over a day or so. It will not hurt the rainbows.

Salt if you can't find the wormer. Start with 1 tsp per 5 gal increase to 3 tsp over 24-30 hours leave at that strength for up to 10 days.

[aquabrain]

I've never kept Cardinals, so take my opinion with a grain of salt:

I know Cardinals have a reputation for being difficult to acclimate. I noticed fish stores lose most of their Cardinals within a week of arrival, because they don't acclimate them properly. So if you've bought from a fresh shipment of wild-caughts, you risk losing most of them. I'd also be concerned about your huge periodic water changes in a small tank, especially if it isn't understocked. If Cardinals are very sensitive to any swings in water chemistry, could that be what's hurting them?

Otherwise, since worms were already suggested, check for Neon Tetra Disease. Does the musculature near the base of tail, or especially near the dorsal fin, look milky before the fish dies? (I know it's hard to tell on a colored fish. Try shining a bright light behind a fish - healthy muscles should look clear.)

Edited February 22, 2016 by aquabrain

[FunkSolid]

A quick update: A generous AA member gave me some Flubendazole, I gave the QT tank two rounds of it, alternating over 4 days with water changes in-between and have not lost another fish. I will re dose in two weeks and in 4 weeks to hopefully close out the life cycle of whatever was killing these little guys.

Thanks for the help, and hopefully this can help someone else in the future :-)

Andrew