Sick Tetra?

[mellyjane]

I have one neon tetra in my tank & I noticed a couple days ago that it was looking bloated & it's abdomen was bulging. Maybe a cyst?

It seems to be hanging around by the heater today.
Do I need to remove it from the tank to prevent other fish from getting sick as well?

 

[Kiara1125]

It looks like a female with eggs. You could isolate her in a different tank and if she looks skinnier within the next few days then she would have dropped her eggs, and then you would know that everthing would be normal. How many Neons do you have??

 

[mellyjane]

The reason I didn't suspect pregnancy is that I only have one Neon Tetra in the tank. I do have 3 red eyed tetra's...can they breed with each other?

 

[skjl47]

Hello; By looking at the picture a swelling appears to be far forward, just about below the gill cover. If this is the swelling of concern, it appears that it may be too far forward to be an egg mass. Isolation, if possible, may be a wise move. If it does turn out to be an egg mass, then no harm. If it is a parasite or some disease it may prevent the spread. The other fish will eat it if it dies in the community tank and may become infected.

 

[Kiara1125]

Neons can't become 'pregnant'. They lay eggs and the male swims over and fertilizes them. Only livebearers such as Platies, Swordtails, Mollies, Guppies, and Endler's Livebearers can have internal fetilization and give birth to free-swimming fry. Egg layers are sometimes hard to breed, but with livebearers you can't make them stop.