Poorly Neon Tetra

[Jo&Gary]

I wonder if anyone is able to help me - I had just noticed as I came in from work that one of my neons had completely lost its colour (i.e. the red/blue markings had gone completely) and it was pale white. It was swimming near the top of my tank as if it was feeding and it was in a vertical position - just as I attempted to check it out it swam around, swam up to the top of the tank and then fell right down to the bottom and died

I just wonder if anyone could give me any clues as to what this might be - all of my other fish seem OK and are feeding OK.

I have a 5in1 test kit which I have just done twice and the readings are as follows:

No3 (mg/l) 100
No2 (mg/l) 0
GH (mg/l) 16 0d
KH (mg/l) 3 0d
PH 7.2

I did a water change about just under 2 weeks ago.

I would be grateful if anyone could let me know their thoughts so that I can maybe stop this happening again.

Thanks,

Jo & Gary

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Do you know your ammonia readings? those would be very helpful too.
How long has the tank been set up for now?
How many fish do you have and what are their species?

Neons are very sensitive about water quality conditions and i would be worried about those nitrate readings- it may be worth checking out what your tap water readings are straight from the tap just to get a clearer picture.
Somone will probably come along soon and give you a clearer picyure about the water stats as they aern't my speciality.

 

[Crab Paste]

That sounds very much like NTD (Neon Tetra Disease).

I've never had it in my tank until last week. I bought 6 Neons (he actually gave me 13 for the same price, I know why now). I went back the next day and noticed a lot of the Neons in the tank were pale, some almost completely white and realised straight away it was NTD. The ones I bought the day before started dropping off a couple of days later. Only 4 of the 13 survived. I took the others back and they admitted they had NTD in the Neon tank. They'd either quarantined the survivors or bought new stock, either way they were not for sale but still on display. It's highly contagious amongst Neons and a few other species.

 

[Jo&Gary]

Thanks for your replies - this morning the others still appear to be OK.

In my tank I have got 4 glowlights, 4 harlequins, 3 male guppies, 1 loach, and now 3 neons. They all seem to be fine and are not acting unusual - are any of these species likely to be infected by NTD too? Is there anything you can do to treat the water (or do another water change)?

I didn't have time to do my ammonia test this morning but I am going to do it as soon as I get home. It was quite strange when I did my 5in1 test as I usually do it every other day and since my tank has been set up my No3 readings and No2 readings have always been 0 - then when I did it yesterday the No3 reading was nearer 100! Something is definately not quite right, its just a case of finding out what!!!

If you have any handy hints they would be greatly appreciated as not having had any problems so far, I am struggling a bit as to what I can do next!!

Thanks,

Jo & Gary

 

[Crab Paste]

The tetras are most at risk from NTD but Barbs, Angelfish and other Cichlids may be prone to getting it but Cardinal Tetras seem to be immune. I don't think there's a cure for it but some people reccomend certain medications (vary from person to person). I don't see how a water change would harm them so that should be fine to do. I did a 25% water change after all the sick tetras were out and the remaining ones seemed ok. NTD is passed on when a healthy fish 'nibbles' on a sick or dead fish. If you removed it before this happened, then all should be fine.

The water change should help lower the high nitrate reading which may have been the cause of the Neons death rather than NTD. There's also such a thing as False Neon Tetra Disease! It can seem confusing at times I agree with Tokis about Neons been sensitive to water quality. Hope all the other fish are doing fine.

Keep a close eye on them and especially the Nitrate.

 

[Talisman]

I had this problem in my tank when i first bought a batch of neons, it actually finished off a load of my other fish too so i removed the neons, and bingo everything then was fine.

really dont want to ever put neons in a tank again too risky.

 

[black angel]

i had a neon that went like that too and within a week they had all died. hope yours dont but be prepared.

 

[Jo&Gary]

Thanks everyone - you have all been very helpful - hopefully when I get home tonight everything will still be OK

Hopefully too I will be able to sort out my high nitrate levels....

Thanks again!

Jo & Gary