White Patch Neon Tetra

FishForums.net Pet of the Month
šŸ¶ POTM Poll is Open! šŸ¦Ž Click here to Vote! šŸ°

Annemarie

Fish Fanatic
Joined
Jan 6, 2019
Messages
63
Reaction score
2
Hello! So as of a few days ago my largest fish seemed to develop a white patch overnight on his fin. It looks like itā€™s a little fuzzy? But Iā€™m not sure. I have aquarium salt I could use, but I have a shrimp (ghost) and dont know if he would be okay in salted water. I know how to use aquarium salt so thatā€™s not the issue. It seems to have spread a little but I wasnā€™t sure how to proceed.

Should I use the salt? The parameters are all good (0 ammonia, nitrite, and 5 nitrate), the nerite snails seem fine, the shrimp is okay, and the other nĆ©ons seem good. Itā€™s just that one. Heā€™s eating and is plenty big, schools with the others, doesnā€™t hover in one spot near the surface or anything like that really. I donā€™t want to go crazy and say itā€™s neon tetra disease or Columnaris or whatever. I think itā€™s just a fungus.

If I shouldnā€™t use the salt, can I use something like general cure instead? I donā€™t have any local fish stores nearby that carry fancy meds and I donā€™t think anything I order online would arrive quick enough. Petsmart and petco are my only options for meds.
 
Can we possibly get a pic of the fish? I wouldnā€™t use the salt with the shrimp.
 
These are the best I could get! I think itā€™s kind of eating away at him too (poor fish)
 

Attachments

  • 2DEBA5EA-B873-4190-89BD-D96D56DB5B99.jpeg
    2DEBA5EA-B873-4190-89BD-D96D56DB5B99.jpeg
    108.7 KB · Views: 543
  • 516A8E86-496F-4008-A661-C3EA5C9786EF.jpeg
    516A8E86-496F-4008-A661-C3EA5C9786EF.jpeg
    102.8 KB · Views: 342
  • A4B25CD1-7F85-4691-8AAC-636135AC2984.jpeg
    A4B25CD1-7F85-4691-8AAC-636135AC2984.jpeg
    122.5 KB · Views: 309
Thanks for the pics. Iā€™ll be quite honest with you. I had a couple of neons that looked just the same. I tried all kinds of meds, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and finally antibiotics. Nothing helped. I suspected it was Neon Tetra Disease but other members did not feel it was. I never knew what it was. I finally just keep them comfortable in a tank of their own until necrosis set in and started eating at them. At that point, I euthanized them with Clove oil. I truly hope someone comes on with better information or suggestions but that was my experience. Good luck.
 
Maybe it is Columnaris? I just figured if he had it he would react weird but he seems to be fine aside from the thing he has
 
Thank you! When you experienced it did it spread to any other fish? The rest look fine (I hope they stay that way) and I would hate to lose them. I really hope this isnā€™t my fault either. I kept everything clean and made sure the cycle was finished. I donā€™t know what I possibly couldā€™ve done to prevent this. Large(ish) weekly water changes, proper amount for feeding, everything I did shouldā€™ve kept them healthy. Sad times here.
 
It honestly doesnā€™t look like Columnaris to me. Letā€™s see what others think.
 
Thank you! When you experienced it did it spread to any other fish? The rest look fine (I hope they stay that way) and I would hate to lose them. I really hope this isnā€™t my fault either. I kept everything clean and made sure the cycle was finished. I donā€™t know what I possibly couldā€™ve done to prevent this. Large(ish) weekly water changes, proper amount for feeding, everything I did shouldā€™ve kept them healthy. Sad times here.
I donā€™t think youā€™ve done anything wrong. Neon Tetras are so overbred these days that there is just very poor stock. I moved my sick Tetras into a quarantine tank so no others got it. They lived another couple of months in there before they declined further.
 
It's either fungus or a protozoan infection. Use a broad spectrum fish medication that treats fungus, bacteria and protozoan infections and see how it goes.

Before treating the tank, work out the volume of water in the tank and do the following things:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.
When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "How To Tips" at the top of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.
 
It's either fungus or a protozoan infection. Use a broad spectrum fish medication that treats fungus, bacteria and protozoan infections and see how it goes.

Before treating the tank, work out the volume of water in the tank and do the following things:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.
When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "How To Tips" at the top of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.
Do what Colin says. Heā€™s very knowledgeable and itā€™s worth a try. Good luck and please keep us posted.
 
Okay! Is there any specific kind of medication you would suggest? All of the medications I seem to find online are pimafix, melafix, or erythromycin. As long as itā€™s safe for my shrimp, healthy fish, and snails Iā€™ll try anything really. Thank you so much for helping!
 
Pimafix, Melafix and Erythromycin won't do anything.

Erythromycin is an anti-biotic that should only be used on known bacterial infections that have not responded to normal fish medications. Improper use or mis-use of anti-biotics can cause drug resistant bacteria that can kill people, animals, birds, fish and reptiles.

Look for something that contains Malachite Green and Acriflavine.
"API Fungus Cure" should work if you can get that but it depends on which country you live in. Different countries have different brands.
 
Okay so for those of you paying attention to this still: I ordered some meds last week because none of my stores carried anything that would help and they are set to arrive tomorrow. However, my neon tetra (the sick one) just died and while I am sad, my focus is now on the other fish. Should I still use the meds just in case any other fish have the fungus and I just havenā€™t noticed yet? Maybe try half doses???? I donā€™t know. I just want to make sure none of the other fish suffer the same fate as this one
 
Here are some pictures of him right before death.
 

Attachments

  • 1E33FA0E-469E-47DF-BD2E-C44FF229B46C.jpeg
    1E33FA0E-469E-47DF-BD2E-C44FF229B46C.jpeg
    139.1 KB · Views: 254
  • 6E4A9F4F-5413-4A84-938B-C55FCA6E3AC1.jpeg
    6E4A9F4F-5413-4A84-938B-C55FCA6E3AC1.jpeg
    147 KB · Views: 508
  • 775C4870-BDE9-49B8-A490-156E51C4FF97.jpeg
    775C4870-BDE9-49B8-A490-156E51C4FF97.jpeg
    142.4 KB · Views: 204
  • 6CB07768-9F0F-4C64-A4E9-265F0F32DC77.jpeg
    6CB07768-9F0F-4C64-A4E9-265F0F32DC77.jpeg
    125.1 KB · Views: 205
  • ED791DFF-A9E5-4EDD-9F79-5029B1692A29.jpeg
    ED791DFF-A9E5-4EDD-9F79-5029B1692A29.jpeg
    97.9 KB · Views: 227
I would just watch them closely. Only my Tetras were affected.
 

Most reactions

trending

Staff online

Back
Top