# Trouble with rummies



## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

I've never kept rummies before so I thought I'd give it a try. An LFS had a huge tank full with excellent coloration and they looked better than any I've seen for sale before. I've heard that they can be sensitive to acclimate, but these guys are looking very sensitive.

I've recently added neons, threadfin rainbows and german rams to the tank with no problems at all. Of my 20 or 30 fish I've only lost two in the past 6 months and one was totally my fault - a zebra danio was accidentally thrown out with plant debris.

It may just be that my CO2 is a little high and they didn't have time to ease into it. I went slow and added quite a bit of tank water to the bag over 1/2 an hour before turning them loose. They were looking great right up until they went in. Then they started going belly-up all over the place. I know tetras well enough to know their playing dead tricks, but these guys weren't acting.

I moved them to some water with lower CO2 right away, but they still didn't look to well. I spent the last several hours trying to gradually transition them to the tank. During all the transfers one did a Geronimo jump to the bricks below & is the worst off of all of them. Guess we'll see how they look in the AM. Any ideas? Are they always this sensitive?


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## Chris S (Feb 27, 2006)

how about PH shock? i lost a leporinus much the same way u describe a while back. I only can assume PH shock for my buddy. I tried a respirator on him too that i made but it did not work. I think i needed defibulators


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## Luke (Mar 30, 2004)

with rummynose tetras, slow acclimation is critical.
[but even then you can expect to lose a few] 
i started off with 20 [actually 2 sets od 10, that were added 2 weeks apart] in the first batch of 10 i lost 3 in the first couple of days, in the second batch i lost 2. I have had the remaining 15 for close to 2 years now.

Make sure that the bag is only half full of water then allow them to acclimate to the temp for at least 20 min. Then start by adding the tank water slowly over a period of at least 2 hours. Put in a small amount of tank water every 15min. or so. So that after 2 hours there will be about a 50/50 mixture of LFS water and tank water. i dont know if it helps, but i have been told to add fish to a new tank in the dark to lower the stress level. [cover the tank with a towel]
[ps. i clip the bag to the inside-side of the tank so that i can leave it open for oxygen.]

and probably also as important, they are very sensitive to water parameter changes. Large or infrequent water changes can really hurt them. And dont forget your tank total bioload, are you close to or over the limit?


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

I had this happen once when moving my rummies from one of my tanks to another, with almost identical parameters. Once accumulated I dropped them in; they sank to the bottom, laying on their sides, turning very pale and gasping for air. I squirted in some stress coat and they eventually came around and completely recovered within a few days. Bottom line these guys are just super sensitive and easily stressed.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

Well, an update.....

4 of 6 were belly-up by morning. The remaining 2 are looking pretty sad, but they're hanging in for now. I took the 4 back to the store, and the guy gave me way more than I paid for - what a great guy!

My new ones are floating in the tank right now. I'm planning on slowly adding tank water to the bag over several hours. I also did a WC and let the pH naturally come up a few tenths. Hope it goes better than before.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

I'd really like to pinpoint what works and what doesn't with Rummies. KOW, but I've always had great luck acclimating them to my tank, but I've heard so many of you say have just the opposite experience. Even my friend with very similar water conditions to mine can't keep them alive, and she has super pristine water, and several more difficult fish than that.

In fact, yesterday I received a shipment of them and did my normal bag float and got them into the tank with no drip acclimation, and they all took off swimming like they'd been in there forever, and colored up within minutes.

The only possible thing I've been able to come up with is that we have well water that doesn't have some of the things in it that they may be sensitive to.
Another observation is that when I get new ones, they all have a much yellower tint than the ones that have been in my tank for a while. They eventually turn into a purer silver color, but I'm not sure why. The husband thought it might be because of the additives in city water.

Anyway, it would be nice to figure out the link so more people could keep the beauties.


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## ShortFin (Jan 13, 2006)

Here's a good thread about acclamating the rummies on the PlantedTank.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/fish/24351-rummynose-cardinals.html?highlight=adding+fish


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

Thanks everyone for the advice. I introduced the new guys with the CO2 turned way down and did it very, very gradually. All of the new ones are schooling nicely, swimming around, and eating just fine. 180 degree turnaround from yesterday's experience. Even the 2 that survived from yesterday are starting to perk up a little.

Keeping my fingers crossed.......


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## iris600 (Feb 12, 2004)

I'm BIG on drip acclimation. I use it on everything. I use a bit of airline hosing, bent in half at one point with a twistie-tie to control the flow. I d shrimp and fish this way, and my mortality rates have gone down to practically nothing.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

Everything looks ok this AM, so maybe they'll do ok. Another interesting thing I found out is that the two LFS's that I get fish from have very, very different water. The one that I get most of my fish from keeps their tanks at about 6.8 - 7.0 with lowish KH & GH. This matches my tank pretty well.

The one I got the rummies from keeps their tanks at 7.6 with a relatively high GH & KH. I think this (along with my cranked up CO2) easily explains what happened. I got used to even sensitive speices doing very well when coming from the store with similar water. Too bad I had to execute 4 fish to figure it out.


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## standoyo (Aug 25, 2005)

good idea to turn the co2 down. 
have personally witnessed co2 OD deaths for cardinals, neons, harlequins, rummies.... for guys who have the co2 way up. ...as they look ok for 5 seconds then immediately look drugged with their gill covers flapping. you can't scoop them fast enough out.

they are a tad sensitive IME. 4/12 left. but those left with me three years already... they peck at each other all the time now that they're old and grouchy.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Glad to hear your replacements worked out.  They are such great fish in a planted tank.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

Whoa! Why haven't I kept these guys before? They're incredible. They're schooling all over the place as they work in & out of the plants. They school up much nicer than anything else I've tried. I ended up with 11 of them - it seems that all of them are doing ok now after the intial 4 went in the bucket. The pH is back down to where it normally is. Now I know what all the fuss over rummies is about. Definately higher up on my list of cool fish.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Aren't they great?? :high5: 
I agree, they are about the best schooling fish I've seen.
I have around 25 of them in my 55 gallon, and they look wonderful streaming around in there.

I'm glad to hear this batch worked out for you.


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## Mjproost (Nov 17, 2005)

I had a similar experience with Rummies. I think the way that the LFS handles them and if they quarentine them has an effect on them. I purchased 12 from the LFS that is close to me. They looked O.K. at the store and I had been looking for them for a few months, they had at least 80. I brought them home transferred them to a bigger bag. They are very sensitive to be dumped I found out. They were floating around like cardinals do when disturbed. Then, I added water with a small turkey baster every 10 minutes for about two hours. Then, I transferred them to the tank. They looked like did at the LFS, just O.K. Then later that day I lost one and lost another 4 over the next three days. They never really colored up fully over the next 3-4 weeks. I wanted to tear that tank down, so I sold the remaing 7 to a friend. I went back to that LFS a few weeks later when they received a fish shipment. They were simply dumping the fish into a net and into the tanks, not even fully temperature acclimating them. It turns out they buy everything in wholesale quantities. Needless to say I don't buy fish there anymore. 

Then, at another LFS they had a tank with maybe 30-40 beautiful rummies in it. I asked about them and they said they just got them in 2 days ago and they were not for sale yet. He explained that a lot of the Tetras are mishandled by the wholesalers and come in slightly diseased and stressed, especially Rummies and Cardinals. He always holds onto them for at least 4 days and does some medicating before he sells them. Even with that he said he loses 10-15%. The fish were only $1.00 more each. It pays to ask when they got them and how they handle their fish. I purchased 10 and acclimated slowly and they are all still thriving in my tank. Some of my favorite fish!

BTW- I think we should all frequent the ethical and responsible LFS's. I look for the places that have lower fish populations in their tanks and have some rarities. As opposed to the places with tanks jammed full of fish.


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