Stressed Neon

[Drum4JC]

Hi folks,

I looked around and couldn't find a thread that addressed this specifically: I think one of my Neon's is stressed and I'm not sure what to do about it. I found it this morning with little color and acting lethargic. A couple of fish were going after him in his weakened condition. I corralled it into a breeding net and he perked up. We held him there for several hours and then released him and he freaked out again and the other fish went after it again. We have since put it back into the breeder net in the tank.

I know Neon's can be hard to integrate into the tank. I just put a 2nd batch of neons in my tank 3 days ago so we can have a good sized school for them. (I have 9 now. ) One of them didn't even make it home from the pet store. Now this one is acting strange. Anything else I can do at this point?

Here's the rest of my specifics. 26 gallon tank. 6 Zebra Dans, 9 Neons, 4 Corys, 1 male Betta. Ammonia = .15. Nitrate/Nitrite = 0. Ph = 7.6. I use NovAqua and AmQuel+. Feed flakes with blood worms/brine shrimp added 2x a week. I change about 10-15% water weekly.

Thanks for your help. Great bunch of people here.

 

[Jpmc™]

It's probably the ammonia, I recommend doing a water change, about 20%.

 

[cowboy507]

Which fish were attacking him? was it other neons or the other fish in the tank. I know some animals will attempt to kill their sick to save the other...now I dont know if this applies to fish.
but...
I would agree that it might be the ammonia, but also, many neons fresh from the store can have many problems, this is a species that you should really put in a QT. If you could i would put the neons in a different tank, just to make sure. if you dont have a QT then i would add some hiding places for him. this might reduce the stress.

 

[Drum4JC]

Thanks for the responses folks. It was a Danio and the Betta that could tell it was not well and were messing with it. It ended up dying before I got home from work. I'm watching my chemistry closely. Not sure what else I can do except wait and hope for the best. All fish look very healthy and active at this point.

 

[cowboy507]

just remember to do water changes as needed. the more the better if there is still ammonia readings. In my fish-in cycle i always knew when the ammonia was high because all my fish didnt act normal
the neons didnt school like they would with low readings, and my guppies stayed at the bottom
these signs are great indicators, you will just have to watch your fish and look for that unusual behavior.