dying cardinals`

[Kate Breimayer <kate@munat.com>]

Hi all  
I have a friend who bought a bunch of cardinal tetras several times from 
the same LFS... even though they keep dying. The number of fish dying is 
always equal to the number purchased though the individuals afflicted 
are not always the newest arrivals, and the fish that die do so within 
24 hours of bringing home the new victims. I went to her house a day 
after the latest batch and we watched one settle onto a plant and 
expire. No visible symptoms were observed, it was a fish that had 
survived a couple weeks... The color on the dead fish was still good 
hours after dying, no protrusions or sunken abdomens, no change in fins, 
skin texture, or anything at all that I could see wrong with these fish, 
they just gently lie down on their sides and die. Anyone have any ideas? 
She also has breeding zebra danios in the tank, healthy angels, female 
bettas, and loaches. One angel did have fin rot but it cleared up. She 
did not salt the water until recently and then only added one tsp per 10 
gallons (180 liter tank). To make things worse for herself she keeps 
buying bettas at Walmart and putting them in the tank, of course they 
are all sick and die soon afterwards. I have told her to stop buying 
more fish but she gets free replacements for everything that dies so she 
feels like she would be throwing money away if she doesn't get her new 
cardinals. The tetras did not come from Walmart, they come from a store 
most of us know and respect.
Do cardinals die from stress? I lost a bunch of healthy neons the day 
after an earthquake... I gave up on neons and cardinals years ago as I 
couldn't keep them alive either.
She does not quarantine fish, as she only has one tank.
Anyone ever see apparently healthy tetras just drop like this?
Thanks,
Kate B
Oly WA
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