Speechless... What Happened To My Fish

[nike12301]

I'm in the middle of cycling my 36 gallon tank with two neon tetras. (I know, I know - bad idea.)


Regardless, I get home today and one of the neons looks like he had his upper lip (if that's what you would call it) ripped off. So his mouth is pretty much permanently open. He's half swimming, half floating around the top of the tank, where he never is. And he's lost a lot of color since this morning.

What the heck happened? And what do I do now?

It looks like hes fading fast.

By the way, the weird part is it's the bigger of the two neons. They usually swim around together and this is the one who usually leads the way, gets more of the food and is just flat out bigger in size, so I doubt the smaller guy was nipping at him. Maybe he got caught in the filter, but that sounds impossible to me.

What happened and what do i do??

 

[WILDER]

I would put him out of his misery if he struggling.
Neon tetra need mature tanks of 6 months.

 

[RedeyesUK]

Poor guy!

Is it definitely ripped off, or is there a chance of it being some sort of mouth rot/columnaris type infection?

If he is completely missing his upper lip, then euthanasia may be the best option. Eveb if he recovers from the injusry, he won't be able to eat and will starve.

 

[nike12301]

I would put him out of his misery if he struggling.
Neon tetra need mature tanks of 6 months.

I know, I know, I know, I know about starting out with neon tetras being a bad idea.

But that's all about water conditions. Somehow I don't think ammonia or nitirites ripped off his upper lip while I was gone for work.

Is there anything I CAN do? And what do you think might have caused this so I could avoid it in the future?

Poor guy!

Is it definitely ripped off, or is there a chance of it being some sort of mouth rot/columnaris type infection?

If he is completely missing his upper lip, then euthanasia may be the best option. Eveb if he recovers from the injusry, he won't be able to eat and will starve.

Would infection/rot come out of nowhere like that? Or would that develop slowly? Because he was fine in the morning and looks awful now once I got home.

 

[WILDER]

Fighting, caught his mouth on something in the tank, mouth rot which is flexibactor columnaris.
Check other neons for white bleached out mouth and lips, fuffy cotton bits on mouth, or strands of cotton on mouth.

 

[nike12301]

I tried feeding and he ignored the food. And also noticed he gets pushed all the way across the tank by the stream of the filter - he's that weak. So I quarantined him.

Is putting him out of his misery the only choice at this point?



And most importantly, would this affect my cycle in anyway? By that, I mean a couple things. If he's gone, I'm left with one neon in a 36 gallon cycling tank - is that even enough? What about the possibility that it is an infection? Will the other guy be okay? And how do I get the infection out of the tank so it's okay for new fish once it's eventually cycled?

 

[WILDER]

Anything sharp in the tank.
Is the filter flow to strong for them.
I doubt the other neon will make it as there are very sensitive to water quality.
If you do lose them I would maybe think of doing a fishless cycle.

If you think he's not going to make it get a jug of very cold water, add ice cubes till the water freezing cold than add the fish.
If no ice cubes put the jug of cold water in the fridge till the water has a sheet of ice on top.

 

[nike12301]

By the time I went upstairs to to check on him again, he was dead.

This isn't going so well.

 

[WILDER]

Bless Him. R.I.P.
There loads to learn I would do some research on the nitrogen cycle.
Also research the fish you buy as not all lfs tell the truth.
Check if the fish you buy that they are compatiable with the fish you have, adult size. How many gallons the fish needs.

There not that many fish can cope with a cycle as it causes stress and weakens there immune system, blood dosn't flow well through the blood vesses. burns there skin and gills.
It's really best to do a fishless cycle, as patience pays off in the end.