Neons Randomly Dieing:s

[Daveo026]

Hi all I bought 10 neons last night for a 2ft tank it's been set up and cycled for atleast a month now an had a betta in for that month I kept them I the bag for roughy an hour sorting temp adding my water from tank. my water levels are good and fighter ignores them so he's not killing them I also put in some mature filter from my main tank due to me buying 10 (worked out buying 10 was cheaper) one died over night and another is on its way out

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate under 20

Is it normal to get such weak neons in 3 tanks iv only lost 2 fish before and one was due to my filter killing it I'm not used to fish randomly dieing ad feeling helpless at the minute
In my other tanks I have otos German rams and I don't have any issues with these fish that are ment to be hard to look after I'm confused

 

[Daveo026]

Ok the other neon is now dead

 

[fluttermoth]

Neons are notorious for not doing well in new tanks, even if they're properly cycled. The reasons for this are unclear, but it seems to be related to biofilm in the tank.

I would perhaps try them again in another 4/6 months, or look at something else.

 

[Daveo026]

I have 8 left at the mo hopefully they live

 

[coolie]

What's biofilm?

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I've never heard of biofilm either.

I thought neons were hardy.

 

[Daveo026]

Found another dead this morning 7 left

Found another dead this morning

 

[Daveo026]

Another dead down to 6

 

[Mr.Tan]

i have the same problem... Tank would be healthy and cycled and no matter what, one by one the neons would die. I just stopped buying them because it was wasting money and I hated to see them die.

 

[Tuxyu3]

I've never heard of biofilm either.

I thought neons were hardy.

Depends where you get them, my local neons are all hardy but they are notorious for weakness and vulnerability due to inbreeding and so on.

 

[snazy]

When you said that you kept the neons in the bag for an hour, floating in the tank I presume, and then adding water to the bag with the fish, did you happen to test the Ph of the water they came in? Just before you add new fish to your tank the Ph in the bag and the tank should be equal, so then you are done acclimating. Also, since you kept opening the bag to add water, did you tighten the bag again after adding the water or did you put the end of the bag in between the cover and tank to keep it upright?

 

[Daveo026]

I did put bag between hood and tank to keep it up right I added water shops ph is 7.4 mine is 7.4 but I did it anyway like I always do. The shops 2 streets away and has same ph iv only lost 2 fish before this and one was unknown death and another was a filter kill (I changed filter now) but I don't understand why they sell such weak stock they are dropping like flies shops said they will replace or refund me looks like il be taking the survivors back but another one is looking unwell so il be down to 5 soon

 

[WILDER]

What symptoms are the neons tetra showing before death?

I agree that neon tetra need mature tanks of six months.
I kept neon tetra's lovely little fish. Had them for a long time with no problems.. I decided to make the shoal bigger and bought some more a year later and lost nearly a whole tank of fish to NTD.

 

[snazy]

I did put bag between hood and tank to keep it up right I added water shops ph is 7.4 mine is 7.4 but I did it anyway like I always do. The shops 2 streets away and has same ph iv only lost 2 fish before this and one was unknown death and another was a filter kill (I changed filter now) but I don't understand why they sell such weak stock they are dropping like flies shops said they will replace or refund me looks like il be taking the survivors back but another one is looking unwell so il be down to 5 soon

Have a read at this when you get time. It's really an useful article explaining the best way to acclimate. Putting the bag between the hood and tank has deprived the fish from oxygen and should never be done. Whether it is the cause or not is a different story but a very possible one:

http/www.bestfish.com/floatdip.html

 

[Daveo026]

Il keep that in mind for the future thanks didnt know that happened. they all look health and drop dead nearly all died overnight or when I'm at work so haven't seen anything really wrong with them but they look fine before I go to bed or work

I hope it's nothing iv done wrong I did same with my otos and German rams and they are happy and health altho it's a different tank from the neons.