So I seem to be losing neon tetra out of the blue and it is pretty darn worrisome.
I have a 10-gallon tank. For the past two months it has had one female betta, HAD 8 tetra, and some live plants. I did a full nitrogen cycle before adding any fish - and according to my API master kit the water levels (for nitrates, ammonia, etc) are all where they should be. Temp. is usually around 79 degrees.
About two weeks ago I found a dead tetra. It was rather shocking. I went to bed with 8 and woke up with 7. There was no sign of any illness - no discoloration, no sluggishness, etc. I just figured that maybe it wasn't long for this world. Then a week later another was dead and one was missing. Again this happened overnight without any prior signs that anything was wrong. Yet there were 7 when I went to bed but when I woke up that morning there were only 5 alive and one body...and one just missing completely (huh?!?). I've checked and rechecked the water levels. They are fine. The filter has a sponge over the intake so it wasn't sucked up or anything.
So, what could it be? I worry my betta may have killed them She isn't very aggressive though. There have been occasions when she would swim rapidly towards one - but never actually attack. Will a female betta kill like this? Or maybe it is something to do with water hardness? Can that kill overnight like this? The whole situation is weird. They were fine for months. Nothing has changed since. Water levels have been the same. Hardness, temp., etc has all been the same. Yet now I'm down 3 in a two-week span.
If anyone has dealt with a similar situation - or might have any answers it would be greatly appreciated!
Tank parameters:
Hardness (per API strip): 150 Hard Ammonia (master kit): 0ppm Nitrite (master kit): 0ppm Nitrate (master kit): 20ppm pH (master kit): 7.2
I have a 10-gallon tank. For the past two months it has had one female betta, HAD 8 tetra, and some live plants. I did a full nitrogen cycle before adding any fish - and according to my API master kit the water levels (for nitrates, ammonia, etc) are all where they should be. Temp. is usually around 79 degrees.
About two weeks ago I found a dead tetra. It was rather shocking. I went to bed with 8 and woke up with 7. There was no sign of any illness - no discoloration, no sluggishness, etc. I just figured that maybe it wasn't long for this world. Then a week later another was dead and one was missing. Again this happened overnight without any prior signs that anything was wrong. Yet there were 7 when I went to bed but when I woke up that morning there were only 5 alive and one body...and one just missing completely (huh?!?). I've checked and rechecked the water levels. They are fine. The filter has a sponge over the intake so it wasn't sucked up or anything.
So, what could it be? I worry my betta may have killed them She isn't very aggressive though. There have been occasions when she would swim rapidly towards one - but never actually attack. Will a female betta kill like this? Or maybe it is something to do with water hardness? Can that kill overnight like this? The whole situation is weird. They were fine for months. Nothing has changed since. Water levels have been the same. Hardness, temp., etc has all been the same. Yet now I'm down 3 in a two-week span.
If anyone has dealt with a similar situation - or might have any answers it would be greatly appreciated!
Tank parameters:
Hardness (per API strip): 150 Hard Ammonia (master kit): 0ppm Nitrite (master kit): 0ppm Nitrate (master kit): 20ppm pH (master kit): 7.2
