Possible Sick Neon Tetra

[ishar]

I bought six neon tetras today, and I thin one may be sick. He seems to have a sort of sunken or flat belly, and he does not seem to school with the rest very well. Here are some pics showing him being off on his own. Could it be that he just wasn't as fast as the rest and hasn't been fed properly? or is it (more likely) a sickness?

These next two were taken not 5 seconds apart, so he was separated where the others were in a tight group)

 

[ishar]

Hhahaha well as it turns out I was right. He was sick. I woke up this morning and decided to treat my tank with an early water change. As I used my siphon I sucked up a mostly eaten dead neon tetra . I hope it's body didn't infect the rest of the fish. Everyone else seems ok so far. Anyways, I will be taking the dead body to my fish store to get it replaced today, so hopefully I will still have a school of six.

 

[ishar]

Ok, now one of the others is sort of shivering... his mouth is constantly openning and shutting, and he isn't schooling much either. Could it be that he ate the other's body and got sick or something? What do I do?

 

[Big Vine]

By 'shivering' do you mean just sort of hovering in one spot with rapid gill-movement? If so, then it is a sign of stress. Typically in a newer setup I'd immediately jump to ammonia and/or nitrIte toxicity being the culprit, but in your case I think it boils down to stress. Stress can kill fish...plain and simple.

As for what's causing the stress...who knows?
If you're spending time observing the tank---which I know you already do---then you'll hopefully notice if some of the other tankmates are picking on the neons. If that were the case, I'm sure you would have said so already.

To be honest, I think the problem just stems from poor stock.
If that's the case, then there's not much you can do. Perhaps acclimate them a little more gradually in the future. Sometimes the best care in the world can't stop poor fish stock from dying though, so don't beat yourself over it. As long as you stay on top of water parameters and acclimate any new neons you get more gradually, then I think you're doing all you can.

I'd take him back, get a replacement, and then wait a couple weeks to see what happens. If you're happy with what you got, then so be it. If the rest drop like flies, then I suggest looking elsewhere for neons or going with something different altogether.

BV

 

[ishar]

alright- thanks BV. You got it right on by the way- rapid gill movement, hovering in one spot. The thing is is that he was fine last night when I got them all, and then he just started this morning. Is that odd? He was eating fine yesterday as well, but not today- he doesn't eat at all.

So putting him in a 5 gal bucket for the night probably wouldn't be the best idea??? lol. I just moved him there to stop the other fish from eating him if he is sick and dies. I guess I will move him back to the original tank... hopefully I didn't just bring him his doom :S.

I can't get a replacement for him unless he's dead either... and even then it's only a half price replacement :S. Pretty stupid if you ask me... one dies the day I get it the other possibly some time soon, and I still have to pay half for the replacements. Oh well. Nothing I can do

 

[ishar]

Well unfortunately I lost this one as well. The other four seem fine though, so now I am just going to make a trip into my LFS tomorrow and get some replacements. 2 for sure, but depending on how I feel tomorrow I might get a few more hehehe. I thought a school of eight would look killer... but I don't know if that'd be too many for my tank or not. I think it'd be ok. Anyways I will let you know how many I come home with and how they take to my tank in this thread tomorrow .

 

[RX93]

i bought 6 red eye tetra and they were like that the first 2 days..it was worst the first day i put them in but then now they are fine. they charge up to eat flakes like they havent ate for a few years. they do school together but i still see one of them "shivering". my tank has been running for a year, what can i do to make it less stressed? my tank has alot of hiding spots. im planning to get more tetra, but i dont think that is a good idea to add so many fish at once.

 

[Lotus]

Make sure you check over the fish when they bag them. If they don't look healthy, ask them to net you out another.

I gave up on neon tetras, they just seem to be too weak.

 

[MissFishy]

Neon tetras have a reputation for being very weak nowadays. I usually tell anyone that asks to stay away from them for that reason. They are massively inbred and die off very easily. The best thing you can do is drip acclimate them slowly and keep the tank environment as non-stressful as possible for the first few days until they've calmed down.

 

[ishar]

ok thanks. I will acclimate these guys very slowly and see how it goes.

 

[HMarcks]

I haven't had any trouble with my neons. I have had a school of seven for almost a year now and none have died. I even had to acclimate them to a harder water then they were used to. I think if you can find a good source they are a hardy enough fish, but as they get older they don't school as well. on the other hand my 7 espie rasboras school great and they are full grown, so if you are looking for schooling fish that will stay that way in smaller numbers I would go with something other than the neons.

 

[ishar]

Ok... I added three more, and got my water tested- everything is A-OK on that part. But I had another one die for unknown causes and yet another is showing symptoms of it- separating itself and not schooling... what the heck is going on?!??!

 

[ishar]

I think I have found the source to the dying of my tetras!!! Man was I excited when I realized it lol. Music! I play my music at a moderately loud level and it is on quite often. I noticed fish after fish would just get the symptoms of separation and then death, and one right now was doing it. Then when I stopped playing my music, I noticed he came back to the group! So I will be keeping my music quiet until my fish get used to being here.

However, that said, one is still a mystery, as when I was at the fish store getting my water tested and money back for the first two deaths, another one died! And there was no music at this point. So I am not sure about that one, but we'll see if keeping the music down helps out at all.

 

[ishar]

Nevermind. One died last night. I am getting quite sad about this.

If my water is fine, could it be tat my guppies, betta, or shrimp are attacking them at night? I can't see this as the case as if my betta is fine with the guppies he shouldn't be attacking the neons, and it is an amano shrimp- even if it tried I don't think it could do a whole lot. My guppies don't seem a likely culprit either though.

Or could it be that there are just too many of them in this size of tank and they fight? I thought they were supposed to be in schools of six or up so that's what I aimed for...

I don't know... I know they are weak but this is rediculous...

 

[cchase85]

Sounds like most of my experiences with neons.

I got cardinal tetras and haven't lost any.

 

[MissFishy]

If people would quit buying these perhaps the demand would go down and the fish wouldn't be so overbred anymore...but that is unlikely to happen, as exemplified here.