Dead Bangais :(((

[Darren&Candace]

Hello all, so 10 days ago we got the go ahead to put our first new fish in the tank ..... and 10 days later, we have 2 dead banggai cardinals :(( .... one died yesterday, and one died today ... they seemed fine up until the day they died - except for one thing that we are now wondering .... we were feeding them frozen shrimp, and now are wondering how much they really eat? my wife and I both never saw them eat really aggressive - theyd maybe only eat one or 2 ... and maybe spit one out. now that they've both died - we're wondering if perhaps they ended up starving. they both never moved around very much, they kind of found their happy little corner and stayed there, behind the rocks most all of the time - now we aren't even sure if that's normal behaviour for them or not. i'm thinking to head to the LFS tomo and have water checked and talk with them a bit about them. We thought maybe one died from being bullied from the other, but now it looks like that maybe that wasn't the cause at all .... hmmmmm not sure about these little critters ....

 

[jwaf]

What are your tank parameters. Do you know if the fish were tank bred or from the ocean? And are there other fish in the tank?

 

[bwilhite]

Frozen Brine Shrimp or just reg. shrimp? Water parameters will help decide if it is the food or something else.

 

[Darren&Candace]

tank parameters all seem good .... ammonia nice and low, not zero, but low ... nitrate and nitrite both almost zero, salinity 1.026, ph about 8.6 .... don't know weather or not they were captive bred or not - that's about the only thing im not sure of now. I read a lot last night trying to figure things out - and came up with a couple ideas - the first one being that perhaps they really didn't take to the food and didn't eat well at all. we did see them eat (frozen shrimp only), maybe 1 or 2 shrimp in a feeding (and not every feeding) but never saw them eat really good - never more than 1 or 2 at the most. my other idea is too much current?? from the first couple of minutes they were in the tank, they found their little corner and never really came out from that. They never came out of their corner - never swam to the other end of the tank. they're aren't any other fish in the tank ... just the happy fat snails, happy fat hermits, a couple of emerald crabs, and a fire shrimp ..... not too sure of the answers right now - when the first one died we thought maybe we got 2 males, but now that the second one died a day later .... we're mostly thinking food issues, but maybe we have missed something

 

[bwilhite]

Are you talking about shrimp you buy from the grocery store chopped up? I feed my aggressive fish that sometimes but I'm confused about 1 or 2 shrimp, that is a lot of food but maybe I am misunderstanding what you are feeding them.

 

[bwilhite]

Also Ammonia and nitrite should be at zero before you buy anymore fish. Good luck!

 

[Darren&Candace]

Are you talking about shrimp you buy from the grocery store chopped up? I feed my aggressive fish that sometimes but I'm confused about 1 or 2 shrimp, that is a lot of food but maybe I am misunderstanding what you are feeding them.

hello,
not the grocery store kind, only frozen Mysis shrimp. I just meant that when they thaw out and they're so small that 1 shrimp is kind of a mouthful - and so that's what they ate, maybe only 1 or 2 mouthfuls - they didn't show much interest in eating - didn't really swim after the food, kind of only ate what floated by them, but even that - is a mouthful or 2 all they should eat? I find it kind of hard, in that within a couple of minutes a lot of those little shrimp have settled to the bottom and get eaten by the crabs and whatever 6" bristleworm is out running around .... but all we ever actually saw them eat was maybe 2 or 3 mouthfuls in 9 days.

 

[jwaf]

I would recommend for future purchases have the fish store feed them in front of you to see how well they eat.

 

[Darren&Candace]

I would recommend for future purchases have the fish store feed them in front of you to see how well they eat.

I think that's a fantastic idea ... point well taken ... thaks for the advice

 

[kbuser92]

8.6 is also a high pH. I doubt that would kill them, but its possible. As far as feeding goes, that's not a lot and +1 on NH4 & NO2. But they could be a little higher since they died recently.

 

[BL1]

Do you have your own test kits? If not, a good test kit should be your next purchase before anymore fish. That way you can recheck your test results. Ammonia should be zero before any fish get added, any ammonia in the water can kill fish and if it does manage to live through it, it will substantially shorten its life.
As far as its behaviors, cardinals aren't voracious feeders or active swimmers so its possible that they were either full or just not comfortable in your tank yet to have its full appetite. As far as frequency with two small fish you'd only need to feed once every 2-3 days. Finally, like I said they aren't active swimmers, regardless of the amount of flow cardinals mainly just 'hang' in one place in the water as opposed to swimming around the tank.