Neon Tetra help

[pmcsomething]

I have a very small Neon Tetra that does not seem to be doing to well. First off, he has his rear fin nibbled down by the Buenos Aries, so I put in him in my small tank to regenerate.

Here are his problems.

1. He is smaller than all of the other Neon's by a good difference.
2. He has a small lump? on his stomach. Not sure what that is.
3. I was on my computer and something caught my eye, the little neon threw up a whole bunch of stuff.

Has anyone ever seen a fish throw up?

Any suggestions to help this little guy live?

 

[ishar]

3. I have seen fish go for a piece of food, then not like it or be too full to eat all of it so the chew it up but then spit it out... that's my only suggestion.

 

[MissFishy]

Make sure the tank water is completely cycled and the tank is clean. Do water changes every other day to help his fin regenerate. Feed sparingly making sure none of it is left sitting on the ground. Also make sure there is enough cover in there for him. Add some real or fake plants so he'll be comfortable and make sure there are no bright flashing lights or lights being switched off an on near the tank.

What is the main set up you have?

 

[pmcsomething]

I have a 10 gallon tank. pictures attached.

Breakdown of fish in that tank.

3 Buenos Aries Tetras
3 Gold Barbs
3 Neon Tetras (minus the little guy on recovery)

Here are the water testings from today

Nitrate: 40
Nitrite:0
Total Hardness (GH): 300
Total Chlorine: 0
Total Alkalinity: 300
pH - Freshwater: 8.4

I have a feeling people are going to say my tank is over crowded being only 10 gals. but I don't mind. I am not adding any fish even if I lose one or two. I do have plans to move up to a 20-30gal sometime in the near future.

I do have some planted plants in the right rear corner apongentum bulbs.

I have had very little signs on algae, like 1 or 2 spots, but I clean them up real quick.

If you need more specs. let me know.

 

[MissFishy]

Your nitrate is a bit high. You should probably make sure to get that down a bit with some water changes. Do you have any ammonia reading? A picture of your injured neon would help.

 

[pmcsomething]

I do not have an ammonia reading, I might have to go get some test stirps for that.

Here are two the best pictures I could get of him, he is a little camera shy, didn't help that I wasn't using the best digital camera either.

 

[lauraj]

Have you noticed if your smallest neon has problems swimming, fade in color, bent spine, or cysts on his body (you mentioned a lump on his belly)? If he has the 'neon tetra disease', the other fish may sense the weakness and nip at his tail. Just a thought, although I hope that's not the case.

 

[Big Vine]

I have a feeling people are going to say my tank is over crowded being only 10 gals. but I don't mind.

Trouble is, your fish DO mind.
Bio-load issues aside, the Buenos Aires tetras really do need a much bigger tank, and they should be in a much larger group of their own kind. Seeing them dart across my 4ft. 55 gal. tank (back when I had them) made me wish the tank was even bigger, so I'd say that a 3ft. tank would be the absolute minimum for this fish's needs. They are much more active and much more robust than neon tetras, and IMO they are at the root of the problems you're having in this tank. Without them, your tank is no longer overstocked from a strictly bio-load standpoint and you'd have room to add more neon tetras to the ones you already have (which you should be doing anyway). Unless you're getting a 3ft. tank or larger within the next week or two, I'd pass on the Buenos Aires altogether and try to find a suitable home for them.

BV