# Von Rio Tetras are dying



## corsair75 (Dec 21, 2011)

So this is weird. In my 55, I started with about a dozen Von Rios, which have whittled down to three over 6 months. I saw one today, dying, with a distended belly stuck at the top like it had a swim bladder infection. I saw one like that last month too. I can only guess that it's the same thing that killed both. All the other fish are fine, Neons, Glass Cats, Loaches, shrimp, snails, etc. The tank is a heavily stocked NPT. pH is rock solid at 7.6 day and night, nutrient values are always at 0ppm.

The symptoms sound like a swim bladder infection, but I didn't know those were so selective. I haven't seen any dying Neons, nor noticed their numbers decreasing. I have Malaysian Trumpet Snails in the tank. Those don't digest, and a friend suggested the Von Rios may be eating them, and can't pass them. I lost some wild collected Mosquito fish to that in another tank (at least, they were seen eating the biggest snails they could swallow, then dying, bloated a couple of days later...).

I like the Von Rios, and it looks nice to have a slightly larger tetra in with those Neons, but I am concerned about replacing them before I figure out why the first ones died...


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## Rob Tetrazona (Jun 21, 2005)

Are these Orange Von Rio Flame Tetras? If so, I bought a pair from PetSmart back in January, breed them, BAP'ed them, and had about 150 4 month old juvies before they all started dying 1 or 2 a day until there were 2 left. They would lay on their side on the bottom and they try to swim with a swim bladder looking motion. Never got to the root of the problem and chalked them up to a weak strain.


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