Sinking Neon!

[SallyT]

Hello there!

I have a lovely fish tank containing a small number of generally happy, healthy fish. I've been keeping them about a year without problems.

A few days ago I noticed one of my neons was having difficulty swimming to the surface & over the last couple of days it has got worse. It now spends a lot of time 'sunk', but with (with some effort) surface to feed.

I feel rotton watching it struggling. It looks very healthy otherwise.

Any thoughts?

Many Thanks,

Sally

 

[rabbut]

Sounds like a swim bladder issue to me. What do you feed him/her? Prolonged feeding of dried foods can lead to swim bladder issues, so it may be a good idea to offer some live or frozen food in the weekly diet If you do this anyway, then a 3 minuite dip in 1 litre of tank water, and 1 tea spoon of bicarbonate of soda, should clear the blockage. Make sure that the dip does not excede three minuites, as it may result in death of the fish you are treating There are off-the-shelf remadies for this issue, but these are for bactirial based problems, and probibly won't work here

HTH, the TFF, and also good luck sorting this problem
Rabbut

 

[WILDER]

Water stats would be good in ammnnia,nitrite,nitrate,and ph.
Just want to make sure the red stripe dosn't look bleached out.
What do you feed your fish.

 

[SallyT]

Thanks very much. I do indeed feed dry food, but very sparingly. I haven't done stats just yet, but tank gets 60% water change weekly. I keep thinking the little fish is dying, but then it manages to surface again. I will buy some bicarb tomorow & see how it gets on.

thanks again for your input & warm welcome

Thanks very much. I do indeed feed dry food, but very sparingly. I haven't done stats just yet, but tank gets 60% water change weekly. I keep thinking the little fish is dying, but then it manages to surface again. I will buy some bicarb tomorow & see how it gets on.

thanks again for your input & warm welcome

i forgot to say - it looks healthy - no signs of bleaching.

 

[WILDER]

Thats fine then as they can show swim bladder signs with ntd.
Need a more varied diet of frozen foods and veg.

 

[SallyT]

What live/veg could I provide? I have 2 guppys, 1 Platty, 7 Neons.
thanks

 

[Esfa]

What live/veg could I provide? I have 2 guppys, 1 Platty, 7 Neons.
thanks

Veg - courgette, cucumber, peas.
Live/frozen - bloodworm, daphnia

 

[rabbut]

^^agreed^^ try varying the diet before doing the dip, as these dips are very stressful on the fish being treated. It is also advisable to add the veg and frozen food to the regular diet, to prevent the same problem occuring.

Whatever methord of treatment you choose, the fish will not return to nomal ery quickly. The bath will need to be repeated dayly sometimes up to a week before seeing signs of improvement

All the best
Rabbut

 

[SallyT]

Really - how fascinating! I have all of them in my fridge now.

Is it true that cucumber kills snails? I have lots of snails! For my tiny amount of fish what sort of serving size am I providing & how often?

Thank you!

 

[Esfa]

Really - how fascinating! I have all of them in my fridge now.

Is it true that cucumber kills snails? I have lots of snails! For my tiny amount of fish what sort of serving size am I providing & how often?

Thank you!

cucumber doesnt kill snails, what you do is you put a slice of cucumber in the tank and by the morning it will be covered with snails, and then you just take them all out.

a slice of cucumber every few days and a pea once a week will suffice

A small cube of frozen bloodworm every other day, too. Enough for them to eat in less then 5 mins.

 

[SallyT]

BRILLIANT! Thank you!

 

[SallyT]

Just to update, the Neon was dead this morning & one of my guppys has hidden itself away. I separated the Guppy & gave the tank a good clean out & changed 70% of the water. I plopped the cucumber in but I don't think they know what to do with it

I took stats & they were all fine. The only thing I can think of, with my very limited knowledge, is if my filter needs renewing. My filters are now about 13mths old. I have deliberately not changed them but I usually get the surplus algae off them with aquarium water when I clean the tank. My filter system consists of a cartridge with something in it, a piece of sponge type material & some round balls.

What do you think?

Many thanks for all your help so far.

Here is a pic of my tank

 

[Esfa]

if the stats are all good, there is nothing to worry about.

 

[rabbut]

Without knowing what the first cartridge is, it is difficult to know if needs replacing. The sponge and ball media don't ever need replacing. Simply do as you do ATM I would replace that cartridge with some more sponge, to create a low maintanance and cheap to run filter system, as none of the media would need replacing

HTH
Rabbut

 

[Esfa]

Without knowing what the first cartridge is, it is difficult to know if needs replacing. The sponge and ball media don't ever need replacing. Simply do as you do ATM I would replace that cartridge with some more sponge, to create a low maintanance and cheap to run filter system, as none of the media would need replacing

HTH
Rabbut

its a cartridge with a tiny bit of sponge in it, and then it has some carbon in it. Rather useless tbh.