Neon Looks Bruised

[toadie]

One of my neon tetras has what looks like a bruise on the top of his/her head, another mid-body, and at the base of the tail (above the stripe), He/she is gulping, yet eating well, swimming normally and seems to get along with tankmates. Any ideas to what this might be? Within the last year I've lost 2 neons to NTD and 2 rasboras to columnaris. The tank is 2 years old.

I don't have him isolated in a hospital tank yet - still need to purchase the filter and heater for it.

Here are the stats that I have a kit for/know:

Tank size: 29 gallon
pH: between 7.0 and 7.5
NO2: less than 0.3 mg/l
NH3/NH4: 0 mg/l
tank temp: 75 degrees F.
some live plants, some plastic


Volume and Frequency of water changes: weekly 8-10 gallon change

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: none

Tank inhabitants: 3 black skirts, 8 neons, 2 small plecos (leopard?), 1 cory, 3 harlequin rasboras

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): replaced gravel with coarse sand 2 months ago as the gravel appeared to raise the pH to 8.0. Had a very brief mini-cycle where the NO2 spiked at 0.3 mg/l, but the ammonia never showed a similar spike.

Exposure to chemicals: none

Digital photo (include if possible): I can't seem to get the photo to upload. I'll mess with it a bit and add it when I can
thanks for your help

 

[WILDER]

If you had ntd not sure why they have survived, or did you quarantine them when they had ntd.
The bruise on the head does it look like it's bleeding beneath the skin, can you describe it abit more.

 

[toadie]

Thanks for the quick reply, Wilder. The NTD only took 2 of the neons - they didn't die in the tank and I did a series of small water changes for days afterwards.

No, it doesn't look like bleeding underneath. Just dark like a bruise, somewhat like a bruise on a banana- especially at the base of the tail just above the stripe.

How do I post a photo? I tried adding it as an attachment, but it didn't show in my post.

 

[WILDER]

Forgot you need to do a water change to get that nitrite reading down.
Do you mean a black patch, as black patches are due to ammonia burns that are healing.

I would ask in tropical chit chat as i only know how to use the browser on pics.

 

[toadie]

The NO2 reading is the lowest reading possible with my kit. It was high after the change from gravel to coarse sand, but is at less than 0.3 mg/l now.

Yes, black patches, would describe the marks. Did I somehow miss the ammonia spike when I switched out the gravel? I tested water quality every day at first then a few times a week until it looked liked I'd escaped too much of a cycle.

If it is ammonia burns (how high would the ammonia have been?) do they heal without harm to the fish? He seems to be stressed and is gulping.

 

[WILDER]

Increase aeration, the mini cycle might of just took it's toll on him.
Look under black patches.
http/www.fish-disease.net/diseases.htm
The fish is in a hospital tank isn't it, do a water change to get some air in, is there anything in the hospital tank moving the water, do you have an airstone.

Sorry ignore that thought you said he was in a hospital tank.

 

[toadie]

Thanks, Wilder. Sounds like ammonia burns. I'll keep my eye on him. and increase aeration. Here's the picture just to be sure. (I guess you have to save the picture to a site like photobucket and then copy the IMG info to the post to this site)

Should I be worried about the gulping?

 

[WILDER]

He looks healthy enough so it's not ntd, the gill does it look abit red as that can be due to poor water quality too, i would do a water change, if he's carrys on breathing heavy it sounds like the mini cycle took it's toll on him, sorry.