Neon Tetra

[ardandy]

Got a bizarre thing going on at the mo!

120 litre tank with 10 Neon Tetras in it.

Just fed them as usual and started watching them (as usual) and all of a sudden 1 started floating on its side!

I thought it had died and I hadn't noticed before feeding but it then started swimming again. The strange thing here is that when it was swimming it was like it had too much ballast on it in that it was working hard to stay underneath the water. It would swim, then 'rest' on its side for a few seconds and then try again.

After a couple of minutes I saw a tiny bubble come from somewhere (seemed to be its mouth). It then started swimming easier and hasn't 'rested' since (10 mins ago).

It still seems to have to work harder than the other 9 to go deeper though? There is also a red dot I've noticed on its underneath rear side (where'd I'd expect its bum hole to be!). If it was a human I'd say it looked almost like it needed a poo! Could it be pregnant? It's colours on the rest of its body are as vibrant as ever.

Do fish get trapped wind when eating?

 

[oscars r ace]

i don't know if they get trapped wind, but i do know they can occasionally get food trapped in there gills which affects the use of their swim bladder, hence the floating on the side, i'd add aquarium salt which will ease the gills and make the food pass.

 

[greenscooby]

Not overkeen on salt myself, i've had this before and used melafix - expensive i know but won't harm your fish or plants,
just personal preference tho.


Mark

 

[ardandy]

WEll I've just observed it (think it was the same one) have a nice dump!

It was like a tiny red slug pellet!

Could it have just been a greedy bugger?

 

[oscars r ace]

what do you feed them? any live/frozen live food?

may be internal parisites, is the fish bent at all?

 

[ardandy]

Fish seem as happy as always, not visible differences.

Tetra Fish Flakes (think thats the name) for food. Just a pinch twice a day.

 

[oscars r ace]

personally i only feed mine once every 2 days, but its personal preference. probably just got some food stuck in gill.

 

[ardandy]

It says 2-3 times a day on the bottle, thought I was been conservative!

 

[greenscooby]

NEVER trust the label for feeding, they want you to use more to buy more.

You should only feed them what they can eat in 2 - 3 minutes, any left over food take out with your net.

One piece of advice i've been given on here is look the fishes at eyes, thats roughly the same size as their stomach.

Because i've got bottom dwellers i give a SMALL feed in the morning and a their main feed about 6ish, i do this for 4 days a week, on the 5th day i feed frozen (rinsed first) brine shrimp on the 6th day i feed frozen (rinsed first) bloodworm with NO FEED in the morning.


Hope this helps,

MArk

 

[ardandy]

Would a fish eat too much than it could handle?

 

[ardandy]

Well I've come down this morning and did a small feed (only way to coax some of the buggers out!).

Did a count and all 10 are in there!

Guess it just ate more than it could cope with the greedy git!

 

[oscars r ace]

yes fish do eat more than they can handle, one of my mollys eats that much, her belly gets really fat and she can't swim, she just hovers there till she deposits out of it at the other end, also my oscars are real pigs, if you keep putting the food in there tank they will keep eating it, a good indication if they are eating too much is if you see the food coming out of their gills, its unwanted food, however in neon i don't think you would ever be able to see that

 

[keenonfish]

I have three tetras and 6 cards in my tank my three tetras always have bouyancy issues after eating flake food for this reason I get some tank water in a small bowl, put flakes in this bowl and stir them to make sure they sink. Not had a problem since I wonder if they take too much air in when eating from the waters surface? After all they are not surface eaters but more mid / bottom I think!

Also keep an eye on the red anus could be internal parasites or other problem but you would have to talk to one of the regulars in the emergency section.

 

[oscars r ace]

thats a point i hadn't thought of, your right neons are midwater feeders, tetra do food for all midwater and bottomfeeders, they are great, all my fish love them, they far prefer them to flake food, might be worth trying them

 

[ardandy]

It would explain the buoyancy problem!

Might have to see if I can get some!