strange behavior

[nemo-girl247]

hi, I just started my aquarium several days ago, and just added four neon tetras
this morning. three of them are perfectly fine, except one has been doing this very
odd behavior the whole day. first, it swam by itself, doing circles around the heater and rarely leaving it. now it's struggling to swim, with its head close to the gravel and it's tail to the top of the tank, circling around and sometimes floating on its back (although not close to the surface). what should I do?

 

[Wyld-Fyre]

now it's struggling to swim, with its head close to the gravel and it's tail to the top of the tank

Sorry, how small is this tank?

 

[canarsie11]

 

[nemo-girl247]

LOL, what I meant was that it's tail was pointed towards the top of the tank...
it's a ten galloon, by the way, but it was just WEIRD. but this morning I found it
dead but luckily they have a 14-day guarantee so I got a new one lol.
the new one's fine, but I don't know what made the first one act up

 

[shadow]

maybe swim bladder?

 

[~FairyAngelFish~]

maybe swim bladder?

Sounded like it. Poor neon.

 

[Wyld-Fyre]

Sorry for your loss, but good for you now that you've a new fish!

Yes, it sounds like swimbladder disease. Read this. It'll help prepare you if this occurs in future......

http/fish.orbust.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=10266

Also, you haven't mentioned anything about water tests. So, read this....

http/fish.orbust.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=7443

And about 'cycling' (tank maturation process).......

http/fish.orbust.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=10099

Good reading.

 

[nemo-girl247]

Yep, swim bladder's probably it. I wonder if it's affecting the new fish I have? for instance, I woke up this morning and ANOTHER poor dead fish was floating around and eventually was sucked into the filter. I replaced it with a new neon tetra, and everything seemed fine ... until now. yet another one is acting strange, isolating itself from the other fish and swimming kind of sideways. although, when I put the net in the water to straighten a tank decoration, it swam away quickly - like it was perfectly fine. I'm getting my water tested tomorrow, aloong with seeing a THIRD fish off (although this one isn't quite dead yet, but there's no way it's gonna survive the night.)

Oh yeah, and I was wondering... exactly how many hours should I leave the tank light on? some say twelve hours, some say ten, and some just say during the day, and to turn it off at night.

 

[Wyld-Fyre]

In the short term, for tonight, if you're still having difficulties with any of your fishes, I recommend having a water change, say 30-40%. It really does sound like your water needs testing.....urgently.

 

[Zanne]

The description of the fish also sounds like it might potentially be neon tetra disease. Some info can be found in the following article:

Neon Tetra Disease Article

 

[Guppylover]

Good Luck with your neons.
I don't think you should keep on replacing the dead neons with new ones until the neons you already have stop dying and you figure out what wrong ect.

 

[AquaSeaFoam]

Also, you said you just started this tank a few days ago... unless you did a fishless cycle, your neons are going to be very stressed and this is likely why they are dying. Neons are very sensitive to high amonia and are not suited to start a tank out with.

 

[nemo-girl247]

Thanks again for all your help... I had my water tested, and the woman said the ph level was slightly low (which I corrected with the powder she recommended.) funny thing is, I used the same powder when I first started the tank. and I think it's definitely Neon Tetra disease, because the fish started to rot (it looked like they had white furry fins! lol it was creepy) and I've stopped replacing the fish. I'm going to see if this works out, after I vaccuum the gravel and do a partial water change. thanks!