Possible Fish Disease

[pieman]

I'm not sure whether my Neon Tetras have anything wrong with them but the do all have small yellow patches behind their gills and some on their bellies. It might just be patches with missing scales.

Also one of the Neons is paler than usual and this may not be a nice fact or relevant but its poo is yellowish.

 

[tttnjfttt]

need to know water stats (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH), tank size, tank mates, how long the tank has been set up for.

 

[pieman]

pH 7.5
ammonia 0.25
nitrite 0
nitrate 5.0

60cm x 30cm x 32cm
54litres capacity

5 Neon Tetras
3 Black Widow Tetras

Running without fish - 2 weeks
Running with fish 2.5 days

 

[WILDER]

Shine a torch on the patches to see if the glow up, also do the patches look fluffy, any signs of laboured breathing or flicking and rubbing against objects, turn the tank light off then shine the torch on the patches they should glow up if it's velvet.

You have an ammonia reading so that could be making them pale i suggest a water change.

Plus if the tank is a 12gal the widow tetra's should really be in a 20gal tank, do the patches look like a yellow gold dusting on them.

 

[tttnjfttt]

Did you do anything to the tank while it was running without fish?

This is not a diagnosis yet, but any ammonia will cause stress to the fish, and neons are very sensitive fish. You will need to begin daily water changes to keep these levels as low as possible. (same thing with the nitrIte)

 

[pieman]

They dont appear to glow but it is quite a large torch

The only substances I have added to the tank are

Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Stress Coat
Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Stress Zyme
and
Nutrafin Aqua Plus

 

[WILDER]

Signs for being a parasite are yellowish varnish, or yellowish dusting, flicking and rubbing, and laboured breathing, or heavy breathing are they gasping at the top of the tank, bacterial will be fluffy or string like yellow patch, also on the yellow patch is there a circling of red around it or a red spot in the middle.

 

[pieman]

It's hard to tell as they hardly stop moving, but the area seem to be around were the fins closest to the gills are connected to the body, the does seem to be a small red dot, but i'm not sure if this is just part of the body pattern

This may just be an exaggeration of some markings on the fish but as i'm not that experienced with them i'm not too sure

 

[WILDER]

The neons have they lost there colour in the red stripe like a bleached out colour.

 

[pieman]

At one point one of the neons red seemed to have faded to the point were it was see through but now its still faded but weaker in areas

About 3 of them seem paler than usual

 

[WILDER]

Are they dashing about flicking or gasping, how long has there red been faded out, how big is the red pimple, can you smell the tank does it spell awful.
Think we need to look at the other fish as well as this might help, how are the widow tetra's any yellow patches or fading out on them.

 

[tttnjfttt]

no, this doesn't sound normal at all. I'm leaning towards a bacterial infection. The yellow patches can be caused by columnaris, as can the red pimple. I would treat with a bacterial med, lower the temperature in teh tank to 72* as columnaris thrives in warm water, and also add an airstone to hlep with the oxygen.

One thing you need to be aware of is your tank is beginning to go through the cycling process. This is where the beneficial bacteria are being built up to break down the waste. Ammonia and nitrite are toxic to fish, and neon tetras are notoriously sensitive. You must really stay on top of water changes and do your best to keep these levels very low.

 

[WILDER]

You say there is some patches on the belly, does it run along the back coming down the sides forming a saddle shape.

http/www.nippyfish.net/flexibacter.html

 

[pieman]

They dont seem to be dashing about the tank but since I bought them they seemed a bit robotic in their movement.

I'm going to slowly lower the temperature over the next few days, the red spots are very small also.

Also is it not a normal thing to have no scales were the fins at the side of the body connect to the body because the Black Widow have tiny patches there also but with no red spot

 

[WILDER]

Missing scales can also point to columnaris as well a parasite, the small red dots are a worry as it beginning to sound like septicemia on top.

Not the writer of this information below.
Red spots on skin can be caused by:
Regarding the small red dot, small pinprick like haemorrhages (called petechiae) can be due to a local lesion, a generalised septicaemia or toxaemia caused by acute viral and bacterial infections.


You will have to really increase aeration as you are going to need a anti internal bacteria med by interpet, plus anti fungus and finrot med by interpet.