Neon Tetras falling ill

[Tiffany Green]

hi all.
I’m new here and I recently started the fish aquarium hobby several months ago.
I have two tanks.
1 for my tetras (neons and black widows), 1 for my guppies.
Everything was fine when my neon tetras start falling sick. I isolated them and medicated them but they somehow couldn’t take the medication. I have no idea what’s causing them to fall all the sudden. My black widows are very hardy and they didn’t seem affected by the wave of diseases in the neons.

Then, I also realised one of my female guppy has a hunch back. I read for forums and learnt of two possible answers. One said it was a deformity while the other said it was fish TB (and it could spread to humans).

Any idea or solution to ‘cure’ my neons and that hunchback guppy? I am hoping to save whatever’s that left.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Can you post a picture of the neons and guppy and describe the symptoms they have?

How long has the tank been set up for?

Have you tested the tank water fro ammonia, nitrite & pH?
if yes, what were the results?
if no, take a glass full of tank water to your local pet shop and get them to the water for ammonia, nitrite & pH and write the results down at the time, then post them here. We want numbers like ammonia 0.5, nitrite 0.25 & pH 7.2, or something like that.

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Is the new water treated to remove chlorine/ chloramine before you add it to the tank?

 

[Tiffany Green]

Hi there.
My last few neons died before I could take photos of them when I came home. The only tough survivors in the tank now are my black widows (5 of them).
I’m going to recycle the tank again, change all my plants and substrate.
My black widows are very hardy, I was wondering if I can leave them in the tank while I do the changes and Cycling or remove and place them in a temporary tank?
The last round I set up the tank, I cycled the water for 3 weeks before I added in the fish.
I highly suspect the plants were the reasons for the neons death. They were fading in colour with white spots.
Another question I was wondering I can get some advise, my tank theme is Japanese garden zen. I love the effect of soil but white river sand gives the tank a cleaner look. Can I actually lay aquatic soil over a layer of white river sand? I’m also thinking of using floating plants and stuff some java moss at the bottom.

 

[Tiffany Green]

I change water once every week without fail.
About 40- 50% change with addition of anti chlorine.
I religiously clear all the poop the fish produces so as to reduce bacteria circulating. I also feed them minimal amount once in the morning and once in the evening, sometimes skipping the dinner for them. The last water test I did a few days ago, everything was ok.
I understand neons are very sensitive fish and not exactly hardy. Am thinking of swoping to cardinal or golden tetra.

 

[Colin_T]

When you say the neons were fading in colour and had white spots, did the blue line fade and go creamy white, or did the fish have tiny little white dots on their body and fins?

Neon Tetras get a bacterial infection (referred to as neon disease) that starts on their back and causes the blue line to fade and a cream white patch to appear. The fish die within 24-48 hours of this white patch appearing. This bacterial infection is highly contagious and requires anti-biotics to treat it.

If the fish have little white dots on their body and fins then they have whitespot or Ich. This is easy to treat with heat or Malachite Green. Whitespot is also very contagious.

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I would not strip the tank and restart it. Instead do a big 75% water change and gravel clean and monitor the remaining fish for a few weeks.

Cardinal tetras, Gold tetras and virtually any tetra can get neon disease or any other diseases. If you do flush the tank and put the black widows back in, they could carry the disease back into the tank. Your best bet is to monitor the current fish for a few weeks and if they are good, perhaps get some new fish but quarantine them in a separate tank and make sure they are healthy, then add them to the tank.

 

[Tiffany Green]

Hi

Thanks for your valuable advise!

Tetra tank:
After some thoughts, I’m going to leave my 5 black widows in the tank. Did a total change in plants and soil (because they were rotting and I didn’t like the idea some of my neons were trapped and died amongst the leaves). Did a 50% water change and added a little aquarium salt to get rid of some possible bacteria from the dead neons (they were soft and mushy when I came home finding them dead).

Waited for an hour or so and did a water test. Everything was fine
- NO2
- NO3
- PH
- KH
- GH

I also quarantine 10 new golden tetra in another tank. The aquarium owner (very well established and experienced family owned business) told me to add bit by bit the water from the main tank into the quarantine tank.
I’m hoping they grow slightly bigger so they can swim fast and hide from possible nibbling from the aggressive black widows.

Guppy tank:
I also have been religiously doing 50% water change and added aquarium salt into the tank everyday. (Because I noticed some faded blush shade on the guppies’ gills - suspect ammonia burn).
Waited for an hour and did a water test. Everything is fine.
Hope the guppies recover soon from the ammonia burn.

I isolated my hunchback guppy. I’m not really keen to put her with the others in the main tank because I read from somewhere, the deformity could be contagious (something about fish TB). I don’t really know what to do with her though. I don’t want to apply euthanasia on her.