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I bought 5 bloodfin tetras 2 weeks ago today. One died within a day.

The others look like they are "shaking" but only when they aren't swimming, (which is rarely). By "shaking" I mean when they are still, they are moving their fins very rapidly and it makes them look as if they are "shaking". I don't know if this is normal behavior for them. I have been trying to identify this rapid "shaking" on my own, but cannot, so I need some help please.

All my water reading are great... 0 ammo, 0 nitrite, 30 nitrate, ph 7.4. I have a 55 gal with 3 neons, 2 platies, 4 corys, 4 oto, 4 bloodfin tetras, 5 pristellas tetras. Most all of these fish are less then 2". Thanks for your help in advance

PH shock is a killer...

Some will drop like flies, some will linger and shake.

You must take the time to acclimate the store bag and new fish to the host tank water.

That process requires floating the bag open and slowly adding a half shotglass full of tank water to the bag perhaps every 10 to 15 minutes and testing until the pH of the bag matches the pH of the tank water.

It takes at least two hours of pouring and testing, or until the match occurs, before the fish are poured into the tank.

Failure to take the time to accomplish this will take its toll on the new fish, as you've already discovered.

I have yet to discover how to reverse the damage to the fish's metabolism. Sometimes a fish or two will survive, sometimes not.

--garyroland.



[span class="edited"][Edited by garyroland 2004-08-27 12:24][/span]

I have bloodfins in the tank next to me, just been watching them pretty closely and they shake aswell. ive had them nearly two years so i guess they normally shake.

The tipoff is when one fish dies almost immediately or soon after placing in the tank...

It is indeed difficult to tell with Bloodfins the degree of shaking taking place if pH shocked.

Some will dive and race, others stand still, shake and die.

--garyroland.

My PH and the LFS PH is normally the same. I do take care to acclimate the fish upon arrival by floating the bag and slowly adding water till the bag is too large to float on its own anymore. My temp is the same as the LFS too. So... I don't really know what's going on, but thanks for the replies!

[span class="edited"][Edited by NeptunesLady 2004-08-28 10:20][/span]

Just a FYI update...

It was mentioned to me that the shaking could be from parasites too, but since I really don't like to add chemicals to the tank, I waited 2 weeks before "helping".

Yesterday I added a dose of QuICK Cure to see if the problem might have been parasites. This morning, it looks like it did help. They are not "shaking" noticably anymore.

Also, one of the bloodfins that had a white bump (not ick) on his lip (since day 1) looks like it is almost gone. And the other bloodfins tail is growing back on its own (I think it was nipped off by another fish). I did not add any meds to help either one of these fish, but relied only on good clean fresh water and their immune systems. It looks like it's working

Testing for pH is always a must to be sure the pH matches...

Fish stores do change their water and consequently the pH may change also.

I've "floated" bags and added tank water over a period of time only to discover the pH was still off.

Just the act of netting the fish is a stress factor for them. Combined with a small pH difference you have a fish that will react adversely.

--garyroland.