Possible Disease?

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djlactose

Small Fish
#1
May 9, 2005
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#1
I am new to running a fish tank. I have done everything I read I was supposed to but I have been lossing at least one of my neons a day. I noticed that the one that dies stays back from the school and does its own thing until it dies. I talked to my friend who works at the local Petco and he told me it could be ich. I did research looking at ich and I don't believe that is it. I now have a Neon which was doing the same behavior so I seperated him out from the tank and noticed he has a white stripe down his gill on just one side. I also seem to have a sick fan tailed guppy who keeps sitting at the top of the water. When I was feeding the other fish I made sure to drop a little bit by him and he ate it right up. If another fish comes and bothers him he will swim off in a hurry but always ends up at the top of the tank again. Does anyone know what could be wrong? Is it a disease in my tank? I have been checing my ammonia levels and they are reading almost zero and my nitrites is reading zero.
 

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NoDeltaH2O

NoDeltaH2O

Superstar Fish
#2
Feb 17, 2005
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#2
What size of tank do you have? (don't mean to upset some with that question). How long has it been set up and running, both with and without fish? Has it completed its nitrogen cycle yet? Have you tested your water parameters, like Nitrate, Ammonia, Nitrite, pH.

Neons always die for me in 15 days, just long enough that I cannot take them back for a refund or exchange. If you've kept your alive longer than 15 days then I should be taking advice from you.
 

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djlactose

Small Fish
#4
May 9, 2005
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#4
NoDeltaH2O said:
What size of tank do you have? (don't mean to upset some with that question). How long has it been set up and running, both with and without fish? Has it completed its nitrogen cycle yet? Have you tested your water parameters, like Nitrate, Ammonia, Nitrite, pH.

Neons always die for me in 15 days, just long enough that I cannot take them back for a refund or exchange. If you've kept your alive longer than 15 days then I should be taking advice from you.
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I have a 46 gallon tank and I have not yet completed the nitrogen cycle. It has been running only a few days and I just introduced the fish into the tank. I have been testing my water levels with each death, but I have read almost zero Ammonia and zero Nitrite. Since it is a new tank and I have not completed a cycle I figure I don't need to test the Nitrate levels yet. The PH level is 7.2 which I also have been testing regularly, and it has been that since I setup the tank and has not changed.
 

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NoDeltaH2O

NoDeltaH2O

Superstar Fish
#5
Feb 17, 2005
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#5
Neons are probably regrettably the worst fish you could use to cycle your tank with. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Mentally prepare yourself to see them all die one by one, unless of course you can take them back to the LFS and exchange them for something hardier. I cycled my 1st tank the old fashion way as well, just like you, except I used bloodfin tetras and corydoras catfish. You rally have to change the water almost everyday (about 25%) as you cycle with fish to keep the ammonia and nitrites down to a "safe" level. Really, fish do not tolerate any amount of ammonia or nitrite as it can damage their gills.

You likely have ZERO ammonia and nitrite because they have not built up to toxic levels yet. Please do take a look at the sticky threads I posted recently here. They will help you out a lot. Unfortunately, the local fish stores like you to make mistakes so they can sell you all sorts of chemicals and medicines, and more fish to replace your dead ones. Check back here to myfishtank.net daily and let us know how your tank is going and we'll always be glad to help you out.
 

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djlactose

Small Fish
#6
May 9, 2005
12
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#6
NoDeltaH2O said:
Neons are probably regrettably the worst fish you could use to cycle your tank with. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Mentally prepare yourself to see them all die one by one, unless of course you can take them back to the LFS and exchange them for something hardier. I cycled my 1st tank the old fashion way as well, just like you, except I used bloodfin tetras and corydoras catfish. You rally have to change the water almost everyday (about 25%) as you cycle with fish to keep the ammonia and nitrites down to a "safe" level. Really, fish do not tolerate any amount of ammonia or nitrite as it can damage their gills.

You likely have ZERO ammonia and nitrite because they have not built up to toxic levels yet. Please do take a look at the sticky threads I posted recently here. They will help you out a lot. Unfortunately, the local fish stores like you to make mistakes so they can sell you all sorts of chemicals and medicines, and more fish to replace your dead ones. Check back here to myfishtank.net daily and let us know how your tank is going and we'll always be glad to help you out.
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Thank you for your help, my friend works in the fish department at the local Petco and warned me of that problem but only after I had already purchased them and one had died. He said if I stay with it there is a chance one or two will live. I did put in hardier fish now with the neon's but I wanted to make sure that I didn't have anything in the tank especailly when I saw the guppy acting funny.
 

NoDeltaH2O

NoDeltaH2O

Superstar Fish
#7
Feb 17, 2005
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#7
if you do not have live plants, then I am pretty sure it will help your fish during the cycle if you have good aeration in the tank. Do you an airstone or a bubble wall or the like?
 

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djlactose

Small Fish
#8
May 9, 2005
12
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#8
NoDeltaH2O said:
if you do not have live plants, then I am pretty sure it will help your fish during the cycle if you have good aeration in the tank. Do you an airstone or a bubble wall or the like?
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I don't have any live plants and I don't have an airstone or a bubble wall or anything similar. What do the airstones and bubble walls do? Does that just add more oxygen into the tank?
 

FroggyFox

FroggyFox

Forum Manager
Moderator
#9
May 16, 2003
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#9
right, if you have your tank temperature higher than usual the cycle will go faster (bacteria will multiply faster) but that means there will be a lower oxygen level in the tank. You can either add a bubble wall or if you're using an HOB (hang on back) filter you can just lower the water level...because what really helps the level of oxygen is surface agitation which promotes a higher gas exchange rate.

If its not too incredibly late, I'm a big advocate for fishless cycling. No dead fish and you can focus on the decorations and water chemistry more than worrying about your water changes. Check out this thread, I just cycled my 46G bowfront in two weeks... http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/showthread.php?t=26438

If you must keep the fish and want to continue with the fish in cycling...be ready to do lots of water changes as delta suggested and have those ammonia/nitrite/nitrate test kits ready to go.
 

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djlactose

Small Fish
#10
May 9, 2005
12
0
0
#10
FroggyFox said:
right, if you have your tank temperature higher than usual the cycle will go faster (bacteria will multiply faster) but that means there will be a lower oxygen level in the tank. You can either add a bubble wall or if you're using an HOB (hang on back) filter you can just lower the water level...because what really helps the level of oxygen is surface agitation which promotes a higher gas exchange rate.

If its not too incredibly late, I'm a big advocate for fishless cycling. No dead fish and you can focus on the decorations and water chemistry more than worrying about your water changes. Check out this thread, I just cycled my 46G bowfront in two weeks... http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/showthread.php?t=26438

If you must keep the fish and want to continue with the fish in cycling...be ready to do lots of water changes as delta suggested and have those ammonia/nitrite/nitrate test kits ready to go.
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I am starting to think I should have given the fishless cycling a chance first, but the tank was a mother's day gift and mom wanted fish on mothers day even though I wanted to wait things out. I thank everyone for the help.
 

FroggyFox

FroggyFox

Forum Manager
Moderator
#11
May 16, 2003
8,589
10
38
42
Colorado
#11
well...maybe explaining to mom what you've found out would be an option?? What mom wouldn't want to save the lives of her fishies? ;) No worries, I'm sure you'll survive doing a fish in cycle...lots of people have done it that way and even though you might lose more fish in the end its the same result right?
 

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djlactose

Small Fish
#12
May 9, 2005
12
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#12
FroggyFox said:
well...maybe explaining to mom what you've found out would be an option?? What mom wouldn't want to save the lives of her fishies? ;) No worries, I'm sure you'll survive doing a fish in cycle...lots of people have done it that way and even though you might lose more fish in the end its the same result right?
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Yea lol, I tried but when the fish she wanted were on sale for 5 for 5 dollars she didn't care anymore.
 

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