Do fish have accidents?!

[Maroonostrich]

I'm losing a neon..

Found him this morning en route to work 8-6- a long shift agreed previously.

He is normal but when I turned on the lights this morning he was struggling to swim. heavy breathing and was vertical not horizontal.

I added more stress coat before I went to work which was all I had a chance to do really as their lights are on last thing- I'm on my way out again now- I don't see what staying in with him can do, I would have tried to get out of work but we were real busy and I am not sure what medication could help him!

All the other fish are normal.

What could have done this to him so quickly? I currently have 9 other neons, 2 large corys and 2 baby golden eyed dwarf cichlids in there too. The golden eyeds are really small and seem to ignore the neons or I would have pointed the finger of blame at them!

 

[CFC]

Any loss of colour? The symptoms sound like the start of neon tetra disease but this would be accompanied by a opaqueness in the red area of the fish.

 

[Maroonostrich]

He's still very vibrant blue and red. He didn't go pale. There's a faint yellow over the blue on one side which doesn't look fluffy, he just 'shines' yellow there.

The poor soul is sitting in a live bearer trap at the moment. If he's hanging on when I get home I think I may have to do the decent thing.. I can't see recovery...!

 

[Saz]

What is neon tetra disease? I had 5 neons once. 4 died very young and one lived for only 5 years. Funnily enough he had a bent spine and cataracts but he lived the longest. The others died unexplained deaths. I have glowlight tetra-very similar but I seem to be able to keep them. The problem is I have hard water which is slightly alkaline which is not suitable. They will adjust to it but they will never breed which is a good thing for me as my guppies bred out of control.

 

[Maroonostrich]

What is neon tetra disease? I had 5 neons once. 4 died very young and one lived for only 5 years. Funnily enough he had a bent spine and cataracts but he lived the longest. The others died unexplained deaths. I have glowlight tetra-very similar but I seem to be able to keep them. The problem is I have hard water which is slightly alkaline which is not suitable. They will adjust to it but they will never breed which is a good thing for me as my guppies bred out of control.

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I would like more clarification on Neon tetra disease- if one neon has got it, will it definitely affect the rest--- should I panic?!

I think we have a case going on at work, one neon suddenly paled and died, now another has gone pale and painfully thin, though it still acts normally, swimmig, eating etc. for now.. Should we expect to lose the rest?

I am wondering if I have a case of velvet which is all that is described as 'yellow' in my little book- but I can't see that causing odd swimming?!

Ironically my neon is still here, still bright, and looks a little straighter today?! I have no idea what to do, he's still swimming a bit oddly but I'm hesitating on what to do next, he's safe from the others in his trap. The rest of the fish are well- I invested a good hour on an inspection this morning.. The baby golden eyes have not even bothered to approach the neon in his trap- and as I saw my adult male of this species attack and attempt to kill a sickly neon once I would have expected them to try and get at him if they'd had a go before... Hmmm... They could not understand why they could not get through the plastic to take a food flake that I had dropped into the trap in case ill neon wanted to eat.

 

[Maroonostrich]

Colour me baffled- he's even straighter now, almost on the horizontal, but his breathing is still rapid. I am not sure he'll make it, but he looks so normal unless I look at a certain angle to see that yellow bit.

No idea WHAT is going on here. I haven't bumped him off, I am just so confused!

 

[Maroonostrich]

Swimming normally now. Still in the trap. Breathing still fast. Stared at him for ages. Nothing apparently wrong. Just the breathing! Keeping him isolated. Not pale. No attachments to body. No marks. Confusing.