Cardinal tetra negative bouyancy and laying bottom

[Mazain]

One of my cardinal tetra has been on the bottom with a negative bouyancy from yesterday. Did a water change for the rest of the tetras and moved the negative bouyancy tetra to a hospital tank.
Tried methylene blue, aquarium salt yesterday and today tried anti-bacteria and epsom salt results are the same.
The good news is that the tetra is still alive however, still laying on the bottom.

 

[GaryE]

Decide on one treatment based in researching the symptoms you've seen, and stick with it. One day treatments of four medications are just stress. Chances are it's an internal pathogen, and there may not be much to be done once the fish is down. But an anti-parasitic that affects oxygen uptake, a muscle relaxant for the bowels, an antibiotic or antispetic that may or may not be targeted, salt... it's a lot to throw at a sick fish at once. This is especially so when even of these treatments were to work, it would probably take several days to see results.

 

[Mazain]

I dont know what was the cause. The fish was healthy and suddenly on the bottom.

Decide on one treatment based in researching the symptoms you've seen, and stick with it.

Yes, agreed. Hope it's not neon tetra disease.

 

[JuiceBox52]

I thankfully have not seen neon tetra disease present in cardinals, though it may be possible. To me it looks like in addition to the negative buoyancy he is bloated and possibly has popeye, at least from what I can see in that limited picture.

To me that would generally indicate bacterial infection. In addition to whatever treatment you decide to do, I would encourage 75%+ water changes every day

 

[Mazain]

To me it looks like in addition to the negative buoyancy he is bloated and possibly has popeye,

the tetras fins were nipped when i put him in the hospital tank. So he was already a victim in the tetra group. The fish died today morning. There was not much I could do.

there may not be much to be done once the fish is down.

This was what I feared when I started the treatments to no avail.
The positive is that I removed him from the tank before other tetras get sick or a discus could eat him and get sick.
Now the energy is back on the fish and plants.