New Neon Tetra's dying off

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drewdigg

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I bought six neon tetra's two days ago and am now down to two. The first two died the first night, the third the next morning, and then the forth last night. The remaining two seem to be fine but I would have said the same about the third and forth yesterday. The two I saw starting to get bad were just kinda floating in one spot diagonally near the top before they went.

I added them to a well established 10 gallon tank that has been running for two plus years with a betta and 1-2 snails. I checked the water parameters with a liquid test kit and they seem fine: Ammonia and Nitrite at 0, Nitrate less than 5 ppm, I have a little trouble telling between the PH colors but between 6.6-7.0.

I did slowly acclimate the fish before adding the fish, floating the bag for 40 minutes, adding water from the tank every 15 minutes.

I't probably hard to tell without seeing them but what do you think went wrong, just the stress, were sick when I got them? I know I need more so they can school but should I wait a little longer before adding new ones to see how these do or would they do better with more friends?

Thanks for any help.
 
Any pictures of the fish?

The Betta could be killing them or they could be sick.
Did they lose colour (in particular the blue line)?
Did their eyes stick out more than normal?
Where their fins normal?

Do not add any new fish until you work out what happened.
 
I've heard of a lot of "bad batches" of neons from all of the LFS around me.
I've never had any luck with neons.

Neons need soft water, which I'd assume you have based on your pH.
 
I've had the same issue recently. I bought a total of 14 new neons in two batches recently and most died off within a week. I'm down to 4 neon tetras. I never saw the black skirt tetras nipping at them and never found any bodies. My ph was a bit high for neons at 7.5 and hardness is 150 ppm. I will not be adding any additional neons. I have always had bad luck with neon tetras.
 
I also lost several neons not long after buying them, I still have several that look very healthy and bright colors and active. I noticed at the local Petco and LFS their neon tetras are all very dull and not very active, the same at Petsmart when I went there last week. I stopped buying anymore neons for now. I have a shoal of 10 glow light tetras in the same tank and didn't lose one.
 
Just a couple of general comments related here. It is true that Neon Tetras are weak genetically due to the generations of inbreeding. But there are some other issues.

First, Neons should never be housed with a Betta. Years ago I had a Betta that easily ate the neons. And in reverse, once settled, the neons are likely to find fin nipping fun. Male bettas are solitary fish and should be housed as such.

You do not need to see physical aggression to know it is present. The neons when introduced to this tank were as highly stressed as fish can be (the store conditions, netting, transport, changing environments--all this causes chronic stress equal to the "escape predator to save my life" response. So right off they are vulnerable. Add to this, being placed in a small aquarium (a 10 gallon is not sufficient space for neon tetras) with a serious predatory (to the neons) fish already "at home," they are probably reading the alomones the Betta is sending out as an aggressor. Now, I am certainly not saying the Betta physically killed them, but the situation itself would certainly have compromised the neons, severely weakening them, and then other issues are more likely, or it made it impossible for the neons to survive.
 
This thread is a classic example of why you should quarantine all new fish for a month before adding them to your display tanks.

Newly imported Neon tetras regularly carry bacterial infections and the shops and wholesalers sell them like that.
 
What I am wondering is...where did my 10 neons go....they just totally disappeared without a trace. Other fish in the tank appear to be fine...4 skirt tetras, 1 dwarf gourami, 4 remaining neon tetras, and one bn pleco
 
neons are small and narrow and can disappear easily. they might get eaten or sucked into a filter, or be under an ornament.
 
What I am wondering is...where did my 10 neons go....they just totally disappeared without a trace. Other fish in the tank appear to be fine...4 skirt tetras, 1 dwarf gourami, 4 remaining neon tetras, and one bn pleco
Mostly neon tetra will stuck in the filter and decor or some plants they are really hard to find... :dunno:
 
What I am wondering is...where did my 10 neons go....they just totally disappeared without a trace. Other fish in the tank appear to be fine...4 skirt tetras, 1 dwarf gourami, 4 remaining neon tetras, and one bn pleco
Dead fish = fish food.
 
when I had the explosion of pond snails is also when I noticed several neons missing so that somewhat explains why :mad:
 

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