Sick Neon Tetra

[Wreckzone]

Hi everyone,
 
I have a 6 gallon tank with 4 neon tetras living in it at the moment. About 9 months ago I lost a neon tetra when my water quality got low due to rotting plants. I believe the neon tetra had parasites because when it died (I watched the whole thing happen) it released a bunch of worms into my tank. My tank is not overly infested with worms as I managed to get my neon out as soon as it died. 
 
Since then I've been living with a few of these worms in my tank. All of my parameters are very good and the remaining 4 neon tetras have been doing well since the last death.....up until 2 weeks ago.
 
One of my other neon's, Manny, started to get a bloated stomach. Thinking it was constipated I tried to feed it some peas but it wouldn't eat them. I then gave Manny an epsom salt bath for 20 minutes but that didn't help him so my LFS recommended I treat the tank with Hikari Metro+ for 5 to 7 days. Metro+ contains metronidazole, salt, and some other ingredients.
 
I treated the tank with metro for 6 days, doing a 30-40% water change each day prior to dosing. My doses were half a cap full (about 4g to 5g). After 1 day of dosing Manny's bloat shrunk a lot. I also noticed either a rash or a brown spot on the left side of his stomach. I'm not sure if this is a rash or if it's worms growing in his stomach. On day 2 Manny's stomach was back to normal but the brown spot remained. He also started flashing/darting around on the sand and plants. Day 3 there was no more flashing. After 6 days Manny's stomach was normal again, the brown spot was now a speck, and Manny acted normal again and was eating. I stopped dosing after 6 days because of a few things; Manny seemed to be back to normal, and since I was treating the whole tank I was worried all of my neon's livers would have gone through hell with all that antibiotic. Neons are very sensitive fish. I also did some research and some people said Hikari Metro+ is weak but I dosed the recommended amount and did it for the recommended amount of time.
 
Well, it's been 4 days since the last dose of Metro+ and this morning Manny's stomach is starting to get bloated again. The tiny brown spot is still there. I'm sure his stomach will be bigger tomorrow.
 
My questions are:
 
- What is my neon sick with?
- Did his bloated stomach shrink because of the metronidazole, or because of the salt?
- Is Metro+ weak?
- Should I treat the tank with Metro+ again at a higher dose?
- Should I try a different product, maybe something that handles a lot of different diseases since I don't know what the problem is?
 
Thankfully I had some Hikari PraziPro on the side and so I dosed the tank this morning with the recommended dosage. I've never used this product before so I hope it kills whatever is affecting Manny.
 
Any input or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. 
 
Allan
 
 
 

 

[Goggy]

Metro+ is probably really weak, try getting something else which has similar ingridients as metro plus, but bigger amounts of those ingridients 

 

[Wreckzone]

Sadly, after three treatments over the span of three weeks I euthanized my neon last night using clove oil. 
 
I just want to note that Hikari Metro+ plus is a very weak product.
 
As mentioned, the first treatment for my 6 gallon tank with the recommended dosage of a bit more than half a cap full for six days did not work. I saw great improvement in the first three days but after the treatment my neon got bloated again and the left side of his bloated stomach had a dark brown spot. (This spot was already there when he first started to get bloated.)
 
The second treatment was done in a 1 gallon quarantine tank. I put a 1/4 teaspoon of Metro+ in every 24 hours with a 50% water change prior to dosing. I did this for 9 days. It seemed to cure him as his bloated stomach was gone however the brown spot was still present but was a faint light brown small spec. 
 
Two days after the end of the second treatment my neon's stomach was growing again. In a last ditch effort I put him back in the 1 gallon quarantine tank and dosed a capful (9.7g) every 24 hours after a 50% water change. I did this for three days with no success as my neon's stomach was as big as it ever was and the brown spot was still there. I'm assuming whatever bacteria affecting my fish that was not killed off with the weak dosages survived and took over my fish. It's the same idea when doctors tell us to finish our medicine. My neon finished his medicine however it was too weak of a dose.
 
So for those of you who want to treat their neons with Metro plus, INCREASE THE DOSAGE! Dustin from Dustin's fish tank says to use 10 milligrams of PURE metronidazole for every gallon. I used about 10 grams of Metro+ in a 1 gallon Q tank and my neon seemed okay with this as he was acting completely normal. (I know, this was a massive dose... but I was desperate). The best thing to do is to try to get your fish to eat food with metro but unfortunately my neon hated the taste.
 
Good luck everyone.