I've continued to lose Ember Tetras, but I think that has to do with the temperature. I had it hiked up to 88-89 because, following the temperature fluctuation that set this whole thing off, I saw spots of ick start to pop up on the survivors.
The very first fish I lost, which did not raise alarms initially, was an Ember tetra. I'm now viewing these guys as highly suspect and might cull the remaining few if I can catch them. I don't usually freak out about having one small tetra show up dead, especially when I've got the temps up and salt added to a tank. I hadn't been thinking about it, but that one small tetra died a day or two before the heater called it quits - so before they started dropping en masse.
I'm sort of exhausted with fish keeping right now. Part of me wants to get rid of that tank, but I can't, in good conscience, give the plants or inhabitants to someone else.
Frank made me a really kind offer in the event that I'd like to obtain more S. vaillanti, but if I ever do that again, I'll need some new smaller tanks so I can divide them up and hopefully not lose all at once again. Then I think about the hassle of adding more tanks and shudder.
In the mean-time, Jeremy is harping on me that he'd like to get rid of the 150 (technically his), alternately with looking for fish to add to the 150 (pick one!!!). Honestly, I'd be happy to get rid of half the fish in that thing and trade it out for a 75 to house the B. cupidos and just a few other fish that are NOT known for eating eggs.
It has occurred to me several times this week that these are the kinds of headaches that drove me to cut back on fish keeping years ago. I'm starting to MISS THE PIRANHAS.
