Ruby tetras stuck to filter intake

[BeefyG]

So last night I bought my first "big" fish purchase... big meaning more than one lol. I bought 10 ruby tetras, a small koi angelfish, 3 green fire tetras, and 3 kuhli loaches (to be moved to another tank later if I can find them). I put them in a 30 gallon with 4 mollies (1M/3F), 6 guppies (all M), 2 flying fox, molly fry, and ghost shrimp.

Last night one of the ruby tetras was swimming funny. He would float around and roll over. It looks like his pectoral fins were moving and his gills were moving and occasionally he would use his tail fin to take off across the tank. Later I went back to check on him and he was stuck to the intake pipe on my HOB filter. I figured maybe it was stress. All the other fish seemed fine.

This morning I found two more stuck to the intake. Is it possible the mollies are picking on them? I don't see missing fins. Could it just be the stress? Could the intake snag them when they swim by?

I only have one tropical tank so I didn't have any way to QT them.

[lilmissruffcountry]

They do get stressed easily, and you may not have given them enough acclimation time. How long did you "float" them?

So last night I bought my first "big" fish purchase... big meaning more than one lol. I bought 10 ruby tetras, a small koi angelfish, 3 green fire tetras, and 3 kuhli loaches (to be moved to another tank later if I can find them). I put them in a 30 gallon with 4 mollies (1M/3F), 6 guppies (all M), 2 flying fox, molly fry, and ghost shrimp.

Last night one of the ruby tetras was swimming funny. He would float around and roll over. It looks like his pectoral fins were moving and his gills were moving and occasionally he would use his tail fin to take off across the tank. Later I went back to check on him and he was stuck to the intake pipe on my HOB filter. I figured maybe it was stress. All the other fish seemed fine.

This morning I found two more stuck to the intake. Is it possible the mollies are picking on them? I don't see missing fins. Could it just be the stress? Could the intake snag them when they swim by?

I only have one tropical tank so I didn't have any way to QT them.

[amilcar]

it could be stress...but keep an eye on the angel and mollies....they are the most likely culprits

[BeefyG]

I floated them for about 30 minutes, added aquarium water and floated 15 minutes. I added the angelfish, loaches, and green fire tetras. At that time Top Chef came on so I didn't get to add the ruby tetras until the first commercial break.

The angelfish is maybe 2 or 3 inches. I got him young so hopefully he would grow up with the tetras and leave them alone. One of the mollies is more feisty than the rest and I did see her kind of nip at the tetra that was just floating around but she seemed to leave him alone when she realized he was still alive.

[BeefyG]

They were doing ok last night... and then there was one... this morning the rest were stuck to the filter intake. Oh well, I hereby swear off tiny tetras. The green fire tetras are doing great.

[Mzungu]

:( Sorry to hear that.

Could have just been that you got a bad batch. The erratic swimming you described makes it sound like they all were harboring something and the stress from moving gave it a foothold. :(

[BeefyG]

Thanks. At least my daughter didn't seem to notice. The last fish that I had that died went back to Petsmart because he was "too sleepy".

[fshfrk]

Petsmart fish should be quarantined in a seperate tank. Go to HAW and you won't have problems.

[BeefyG]

Petsmart fish should be quarantined in a seperate tank. Go to HAW and you won't have problems.

Actually I haven't bought anything from Petsmart since I found HAW. I had bought a couple lyretail mollies from Petsmart and one of them tried to burrow under a decoration and got stuck? Or at least I found him in a shallow grave pinned half under. Had a similar thing happen with a Petco goldfish. If they aren't selling you sick fish, they're selling you dumb ones...

But the ruby tetras came from HAW. That's why I was so surprised.

[daviesri]

How well established was the tank? You more than doubled the bio-load in one night. That could be an issue. Have you checked the chemistry of the tank?

[BeefyG]

How well established was the tank? You more than doubled the bio-load in one night. That could be an issue. Have you checked the chemistry of the tank?

It has been running for almost two months now, but you do have a point. I hadn't considered how much bioload all the little tetras would be. To be honest, I've never checked the chemistry because I never had a problem before. I just usually add fish really really slowly... like one at a time.