Possible neon tetra disease?

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GedsKa

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Hello,
Three weeks ago i started 30L (~8gal aquarium) with 5 neon tetras and 4 Daninions. Last week one neon died (found him on the bottom of the tank in the morning). Did not notice any symptoms on him. Now one week later i saw that one of the neons looks "strange". A spine a little curved. Don't seem to have any other symptoms as Restlessness or Collor loss or swimming issues. It sometimes tends to wonder away alone to calmer places and stays there for couple of hours and eats less too. Other neons also keep distance from each other after the first one died tho. So maybe it is normal and i just observe him for couple of more days? Or should i remove him from my aquarium immediatly?
neon_tetra_disease.jpg
 
What is your temperature and hardness? The fish in the photograph is a cardinal tetra. Post pictures of the others so we can confirm what they are. For neon tetras the red streak goes from the tail and stops in the middle of the fish. Cardinals have the red from head to tail.

What other fish do you have? A photo would help, but Danios (I assume that is what you mean) are usually found in cooler water than cardinals and are much more active than the cardinals like. Both of the species need to be in much bigger groups, but I'm afraid your tank is too small for this.

I recommend that you do an immediate 75% water change using de-chlorinated water that is a similar temperature to your tank water. Continue with daily 75% water changes for a week and let us know if anything changes.
 
Sorry my mistake. Its Cardinals ... Water hardness by JBL aquatest shows arround 250 ppm. And water temperature is 25 Celsius (77F). And yes other fish are Danios.
danios.jpg


We stared aquarium with 5 cardinals and after few weeks added 4 danios as shopkeeper said they will be fine together in a 30L aquarium.
 
Could you go on your local water providers page and put in your post code in and do a screen shot of the results and post it here please.
 
I don't know anything about Lithuanian water companies.

I presume your water is supplied by a company of some sort? Do they have a website, and if they do, do they have a section for water quality?
 
What does the fish's poop look like?
If the fish does stringy white poop, doesn't eat much, and gets skinny over a week or two, then it has an internal protozoan infection.

Metronidazole is the recommended treatment for internal protozoan infections.

There is a product called API General Cure that contains Metronidazole.
 
Is this stringy pooping related only to cardinals or to any other fish too? Because i think i saw stringy white poop for first two days when this guy was bought (don't know the name because wife bought it...). Never saw stringy pooping from cardinals or danios.
 

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Stringy white poop can affect any fish. It can be from internal bacteria, internal protozoa or intestinal worms. Each problem requires a different treatment.

Fish do a stringy white poop for several reasons.
1) Internal Bacterial Infections causes the fish to stop eating, swell up like a balloon, breath heavily at the surface or near a filter outlet, do stringy white poop, and die within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms. This cannot normally be cured because massive internal organ failure has already occurred.

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2) Internal Protozoan Infections cause the fish to lose weight rapidly (over a week or two), fish continues to eat and swim around but not as much as normal, does stringy white poop. If not treated the fish dies a week or so after these symptoms appear. Metronidazole normally works well for this.

There is a medication (API General Cure) that contains Praziquantel and Metronidazole.

It's interesting that API and the Californian government have listed Metronidazole as a carcinogen. That's a concern considering it was widely used to treat intestinal infections in people.

Anyway, if you use this or any medication, handle with care, don't inhale the medication, and wash hands with soapy water after treating the fish or working in the tank.

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3) Intestinal Worms like tapeworm and threadworms cause the fish to lose weight, continue eating and swimming normally, and do a stringy white poop. Fish can do this for months and not be too badly affected. In some cases, fish with a bad worm infestation will actually gain weight and get fat and look like a pregnant guppy. This is due to the huge number of worms inside the fish.

Livebearers like guppies, mollies, swordtails & platies are regularly infected with gill flukes and intestinal worms. If the fish are still eating well, then worms is the most likely cause.

You can use Praziquantel to treat tapeworm and gill flukes. And Levamisole to treat thread/ round worms. If you can't find these medications, look for Flubendazole, which treats both lots of worms.

Remove carbon from filters before treatment and increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.

You treat the fish once a week for 4 weeks. The first treatment will kill any worms in the fish. The second, third and forth treatments kill any baby worms that hatch from eggs inside the fish's digestive tract.

Treat every fish tank in the house at the same time to prevent cross contamination.

You do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean 24-48 hours after treatment. Clean the filter 24 hours after treatment too.

Do not use the 2 medications together. If you want to treat both medications in a short space of time, use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.

The water changes will remove most of the medication so you don't overdose the fish the next time you treat them. The gravel cleaning will suck out any worms and eggs that have been expelled by the fish. Repeating the treatment for 3-4 doses at weekly intervals will kill any worms that hatch from eggs. At the end of the treatment you will have healthier fish.
 

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