Curious Neon Tetra Problem

[Scortex]

Yesterday i bought 12 very small neon tetras on adding them to the tank all was well but i did notice one with a dull patch on one side, since a closer inspection today i have found similar marks on three of them and i am a new starter to tropical aquarium keeping so advise on what i should do would be very helpful.

Info:

New setup cycled and tested(at store) ok to add fish

12 neon tetras added(very small)

 

[GuppyGoddess]

I'm not sure about the spots, but do know that a tank should be up and running for 6+ months before keeping neons. Personally, I would take them back if your tank is new (just cycled). . .

 

[Scortex]

The tank, pump,gravel, log(fake) and some stones where from the previous setup but have been cleaned so i tagged it as new but it has just cycled, the store person said that the tetras would be ok as the starter fish and tbh apart from the three with the white/discoulered patches they seem very happy do you still think i should return them?

 

[WILDER]

Really need your water stats.
Take a sample of your water to the lfs and ask them to write the readings down for you.
Also I would strongly suggest investing in some liquid test kits of your own.

How many gallons is the tank.
Do you only have the neons in the tank.

The white patch does it look fluffy like cotton wool.
Does it look like bleaching beneath the skin.
Is the red stripe bleached out, or a milky substance on the red stripe area.
The white patch is it near the tail region.

A pic would be good.

 

[three-fingers]

Already I'd suspect Pleistophora hyphessobryconis to me, "neon tetra disease", just 'cuz its so common on small cheap neons sold as deals.

But really without pics it's hard to tell, try and get some .

Additional info would be useful too .

 

[Scortex]

To Tweety,

Will get my stats a.s.a.p.(possibly tomorrow a.m.)

21 imp. gal.

yes only neons and all very active.

no(but hard to say as they are v.small and always facing in the other direction one side lookin fine).

yes.

no all have vibrant red.

no just forward of the dorsal fin on the side over the blue.

have tried to get a pic but the little blighters wont show me that side and when they do by the time i get focus they move!

best i could get.

 

[Scortex]

To Three-Fingers,

I suspect NTD but i just want to be sure as im new to it.

besides i did notice 1 fish with the problem before they entered the tank.

 

[three-fingers]

Yep, NTD I'm afraid . Remove infected fish (

It seems very harsh but really it's the best thing to do, to save them from a slow death of basically rotting away, and to stop other fish getting infected. Best (quickest) method IMO is crushing the fish with something like a brick, or slamming them against something in a bag. Other methods are to risky IMO.

Then treat the tank with an anti-bacterial as a precautionary measure just in case it was something else causing the symptoms (unlikely) or there was a bacterial infection triggering (or making it worse) the NTD.

 

[Scortex]

I'm going to remove the infected fish right now and hospitalise them till morning and return to store as they were obviously like this when i purchased them 30hrs ago, is it possible the others will be safe from infection given the time they spent in the tank? or could they be infected from the previous tank in the store?

curse it i cant find a suitable hospital so i have to risk them till morning

 

[WILDER]

Yes we need water stats.
It could also be false ntd which is flexibactor columnaris or bad water quality.

Really need water stats.

 

[Scortex]

really sorry i never replied yesterday i had no time to, all neons were returned as asked for by lfs on the phone and determined that they did have ntd. credited my account

my stats are: PH=7 Ammonia=0 Nitrite=0.5 Nitrate=5!! <I no longer have fish in my tank and will continue to cycle with nutrafin cycle product until my nitrate is acceptable. Is it so high because initially i had a problem with my lighting being very old causing plants to start to die, after a new bulb was fitted the plants were more than happy but the decaying debris(I did try to preen dead leaves) obviously is too high hence the nitrate yes?

also i did a 20% w/c yesterday and will do this every other day till the nitrate settles

 

[WILDER]

Ok.
You mean nitrite not nitrate, as it normal to have a nitrate reading. Nitrite should be 0 in a cycled tank.

I would still keep an eye on your fish for ntd signs.
It could of been bad water quality, false ntd, ntd.

 

[Scortex]

Definately nitrate reading at 5 i just want it to be a little lower, i expect the 0.5 nitrite reading to fall to 0 over the next week as i have a good bio filter running at 1000L p/h and this is the third week of the cycle and i was aware of the risk introducing tetras so early but like canaries i needed to know it was safe for the more expensive fish, i expect that my poor quality water was what exacerbated the neons condition but that NTD was already present as agreed by the gentleman at the store so i will not be putting fish into my tank at all untill i am completely sure that conditions are 100% safe.

Thankyou for being helpful and i will continue to use this forum for help and to increase my understanding of aquarium keeping.

 

[keenonfish]

scortex understand that a Nitrate reading of 5 is perfectly normal in your situation - Mine is about 20 and I have perfectly healthy Neons etc.. but I dose nutrients so to be expected. A nitrite reading of anything is possibly what is responsible for your Neons demise. You might want to explain exactly how you cycled your tank this will help Wilder and Co. even further. Glad the fish were returned without problems

 

[Scortex]

I am a complete novice with no understanding of cycling and aquarium keeping(just over 2 weeks experience ) I cycled my tank for 1 week with all the substrate, rocks, and features from the previous owners setup(Just rinsed filter media possibly some bacteria still there?), then for week 2 added some more pebbles and a nice rose quartz with some plants(about 6 in total). On testing the water at the end of week 2 all was well as I was told by the lady in the local store, I needed a new Lighting tube as the plants were showing signs of low chloroplast transformation and have since improved(very much so new growth too) obviously the previous tube had never been changed but I now know that its a 6-12month change on the tube.

As for the neons, on inspection of the store tank(the one they had been in was now empty) the neons my partner and I could see of the same age were themselves showing the same signs as the ones we had which we commented on.

My tank has been hoovered and plants trimmed since, up to today it has recieved 1 20% w/c and 1 10% w/c i will do a 10% w/c tomorrow and thursday and test my water again on friday. After each w/c i add a dose of Nutrafin cycle to help everything along, on thursday i will add another dose of the plant fertiliser which i added last week.

Thankyou keenonfish i was unaware that a 5 nitrate reading was ok I thought that was a bad thing im learning tho