Lost a neon tetra - bigger problems down the road?

steelo

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Hi, I have a 45 gallon aquarium that is fully cycled (fishless) and stocked with (now) 10 neon tetras, a 2-3" bristlenose pleco, 6 rasboras, a small piece of driftwood for "pleco" (that's also the name my wife and I gave him...LOL) and a few live plants. I've had this tank stocked for about 4 months now and the fish all seemed quite happy and peaceful. I'll mention that in the past few weeks, I have noticed a neon (not sure if it's the same one that died) that was kind of hanging out on his own but he appeared to be acting fairly normal and looked to be well-fed like the others. Well, out of the blue the other day I noticed a dead, half eaten neon. All of the other fish appear to be schoaling together and acting normal. I haven't checked the ammonia/nitrate,nitrite levels lately but it's kind of concerning things may be going downhill. I only feed the fish once a day, do about a 30% water change once per week and dechlorinate the water prior to adding. The water temperature is a consistent 78 degrees F every time I check it. Thanks!
 
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What did the dead fish look like?
eg: was the blue or red line faded, etc?

Any chance of a picture of the sick, dead or live fish?

If a fish dies in the tank, wipe the inside of the glass down and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate immediately, and every day for the next week. This will help reduce any disease organisms that might be in the water.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. Wash filter materials in a bucket of tank water.

You could also drop the temperature a couple of degrees. Neons do better in cooler water around 22-24C (72-75F). If you have it at 75F, it will be warm enough for the bristlenose.
 
What did the dead fish look like?
eg: was the blue or red line faded, etc?

Any chance of a picture of the sick, dead or live fish?

If a fish dies in the tank, wipe the inside of the glass down and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate immediately, and every day for the next week. This will help reduce any disease organisms that might be in the water.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. Wash filter materials in a bucket of tank water.

You could also drop the temperature a couple of degrees. Neons do better in cooler water around 22-24C (72-75F). If you have it at 75F, it will be warm enough for the bristlenose.
Thanks Colin, I can maybe lower the temperature a few degrees...I want to ask you though whether 75 degrees is appropriate for the raspboras.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get a very good look at the dead neon because half of its body was eaten and it was probably sitting in there at least a few hours before I noticed him. It looked to have decent size and color though, none of my fish look to be withering away. I'll be honest, I have yet to clean the filter because I'm so paranoid about the tank mini cycling. Another person told me that as long as you have good water flow, it's fine. Also, I have filled the back of the filter with the 'bio balls' when I was attempting to do a fishless cycle, so it's a bit of a pain to change...my own laziness.

My water change day is tomorrow so I will at the very least rinse the element in the water I siphon out of the tank. I'll also try to do about a 75% water change and keep an eye out for unusual behavior. So far, the fish all SEEM to be happy and schoaling together pretty tightly. It's usually when one breaks off for extended periods of time that I begin to worry. Thanks again, Colin!
 
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75F is fine for rasboras.

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Filters need to be cleaned regularly (at least once a month) because all the crap gets trapped there and the water is filtered through it.

Imagine living in your house with no windows, doors, toilet, bathroom or anything. You eat and poop in the environment and have no clean air. Eventually you end up living in your own filth, which would probably be made worse by you throwing up due to the smell. You would get sick very quickly and probably die unless someone came to clean up regularly and open the place up to let in fresh air.

Fish live in their own waste. Their tank and filter is full of fish poop. The water they breath is filtered through fish poop. Cleaning filters, gravel and doing big regular water changes, removes a lot of this poop and makes the environment cleaner and healthier for the fish.
 
Okay, thanks. I have lowered the temp and it's sitting around 76 degrees. Today is my 'water change day' so I will do a larger water change than normal and clean the filter media using the 'dirty' water I drained.
 

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