How do you end a failed quarantine?
This is likely one for the more experienced keepers...
How do you end a failed quarantine?
I bought 8 candy cane (HY511) tetras, intending to put them in my finished 20g long (I currently have just a L183 pleco living in it). I put them in my 10g quarantine tank, which is fully cycled (and double-filtered: has both a sponge and a HOB). They looked amazing, eating, active, happy until a couple days ago. Unfortunately, on day 20, one died. One day 21, another died. On day 22, the third died.
I am down to five. I have tested my water all along. Ammonia is consistently zero, nitrites are consistently zero, and nitrates have never crept above ~20. I did a big 50% water change, and in case it was a chlorine pulse, I doubled up on SeaChem Prime (I don't think it was a pulse because I did water changes on my other tanks, and my other fish are fine). Still lost yet another one overnight. I have watched the fish and examined the dead ones. I can see nothing externally wrong with either. No flashing, no spots, no fuzz, no frayed fins. Just randomly die.
At this point, I don't have enough for a reasonable school, I have no reason to expect the rest will survive, and I don't have a source to obtain more. Obviously, I can't give them to another hobbyist or surrender them to my LFS; it seems there's something very wrong with the group.
Do I humanely euthanize the remainder? Just wait for them to all die off? I have never had a quarantine go sideways this badly this late in the process before, but my LFS has been really unreliable lately. :(
I'm really sad and disappointed. My tank is ready, I was really looking forward to these guys, and I got attached to them. :(
