Faded neon tetra

[frankenfish]

i just noticed yesterday that the colors on one of my neons is faded compared to the others. is it sick or could it just naturally be less vivid? he/she/it doesn't seem to be acting differently, no difficulty swimming or anything like that. should i be concerned?

also i was wondering if it would be worth adding another oto to my already overstocked tank to my existing one company.

 

[ValRasbora]

sometimes that happens when the light conditions are dark for a longer period of time than usual.

 

[Newman]

watch your water parameters and what you feed the fish. stay away from feeding only one type of pellet and flake. variety in food promotes natural color. bad water parameters (ammonia, nitrite or more than 40ppm nitrate in the water) will also stress the fish and cause its color to fade. If the ladder is the case, then your other neons will likely be affected....

 

[Newman]

q .

 

[frankenfish]

latest developments: only the one neon is still affected and it appears to be getting worse. color is very very faded and i'm noticing some coloration on the top of his head that that isn't there on the others. chunks also appear to be missing from his tail. here's a video. quality sucks but you can really tell which neon it is. and also the algae on the glass kinda makes it blurry. just got another oto though who went right to town helping the other one eat it up. but what should i do about the neon

Sick Neon

 

[Newman]

post up your water readings. numbers please.
also what do you feed them?
And what temp is the tank at constantly?

Reason im asking is because all above things can lead to stress and stress will eventually cause your fish to become sick, and fade in color like that...
Alsi is that fish being bullied by anything else in the tank?

 

[frankenfish]

can't tell ya the water reading cuz i aint got a test kit yet. petco does free water tests right? i think i'ma head up there tomorrow if they do.

i feed them...."Omega One, Natural Protein Formula" 2 to 3 times a day depending on when i'm home that day.

tank is kept at between 78 and 80.

no bullying that i've observed. no they've always been very peaceful

 

[Newman]

weird. the food is fine. the temp is good as long as it stays like that.
You really need to get a test kit, and you know i would say that LOL!

 

[frankenfish]

lol. ya i know. next time i get paid i'l head right over to the fish store *thumbsups

 

[Doomhed]

those look more like white cloud minnows than neon tetras....the coloration could be age, sometimes there are fish that are a little older than the rest in pet store tanks. one particular fish might have escaped the net enough times to be months or even years older than his tankmates. it does seem to be a little larger than some of your others.

 

[frankenfish]

well got home from school today and he was dead as a doornail stuck to the filter intake. could his deadness have poisoned the water or anything? should i do a water change just in case? and should i replace him or keep my school at 4?

 

[tropicalcrazy]

otos, they say you can have 5 and it would equal 1 full size one so you could get a total of 5 and not worry about the overstocking. your gonna want to get the school of neons to probably about 6 or more to be really happy. i just got some neons the other day and had some go pale and die. ive been told when you buy neons, expect deaths. too much stress as i believed was mentioned before.

petco does do free water tests. just make sure you ask them what your exact reading are, not whether the tank is fine. ask them what the level on ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite are.

 

[frankenfish]

i dont think i got enough algae going to feed that many otos. if i get a bigger tank (hopefully soon) i'l definitely get more. they're cool little buggers.

so i went to get a new tetra and i picked up some test strips finally and here's what i got for readings:

Nitrate: somewhere between 20 and 40
Nitrite: between 0 and .5. closer to 0
Hardness: 75
Chlorine: 0
Alkalinity: Between 80 and 120
pH: Between 7.2 and 7.8

These numbers sound OK?

 

[tropicalcrazy]

nitrate i believe needs to be 0.

you WILL probably run out of algae for those otos to eat over a period of time. do know that when that time comes you need to substitute algae wafers for them. DO NOT expect they will have a constant food source from algae. you do only have a 5g that they are in. shouldnt take them long at all to clean that tank up or keep it clean.

yes otos are very active and fun to watch. i acquired my first 5 the other day when i bought my neon tetras

 

[Newman]

Nitrite has to be 0.
Nitrate needs to be way below 20 ppm.

any reason you skipped out on getting the real (liquid) testing kit over the lame test strips lol?
You also need to know your ammonia levels.

 

[frankenfish]

money. lol. only had 20 bucks and i needed to get the fish too. it was actually 20.62 but they let me slide cuz i go there so much. lol.

anything i can do to get those numbers to where they should be? i just did a water change b4 i took that reading

 

[Newman]

get the liquid master kit when you got more money. the test strips will have to do until then