How to treat tank w/sick neon

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dsbrasw

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Aug 22, 2005
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I have a neon tetra in my 55 gallon tank that has lost all of his red color. His spine is bent into an S shape and the back half of his body is wasting. It looks like the back half of his body is paralysed. This happened gradually over a couple of weeks. His apetite is great and he eats just like everyone else. He has trouble swimming but has figured out how to stay out of the filter currents. I have one other neon in the tank that has a few lighter color patches on his red stripe. I have been keeping an eye on him but he doesn't seem to have changed any. Maybe those are his natural markings?

According to all the articles I have read, this could be Neon Tetra Disease. false NTD or fish TB. All other fish appear perfectly happy and healthy. I know I need to get rid of the sick fish, but I don't have a quarantine tank. I'm not much on euthanising as he seems happy (his blue color is great!?!), he's eating well, and no one is picking on him. LFS suggested I treat the tank with Pipzine, which I started last night. I figured it might not help but it couldn't hurt.
So, I either have parasites (NTS) or bacteria (fNTD or fish TB). What do i do to protect my other fish? I'm afraid to treat with antibiotics because i would probably lose more fish to my biological filter crashing. Would a polishing filter help? Any help is appreciated!

55 gallon, ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 15, pH 6.7, temp 78. Community tank with neons, glowlights, zebra danios, white cloud minnows, harlequin rasboras, cory cats,ottos, dwarf gouramis, male betta, various ranshorn, pond and MTS snails. lightly planted.
 
So I need to remove the sick fish and just wait and see? How long before I can be confident that none of the other fish are infected? How long before it is safe to add more fish?
 
Maybe its old age? A neon's lifespan is only about 2 years.
I'd recommend putting him out of his misery...and stopping the spreading of whatever problem he has.

If you are concerned about internal parasites, there is a food and water treatment you can purchase, made by Jungle Labs. Its called "Internal parasite Food" ....not a creative name I guess. I used it for about a month, but later hooked up a U/V sterilizer I had laying around.
 
Can you post pictures of those neons? It would be very helpful if people could see exactly how they look.

Sometimes it's hard to tell one disease from another and with some diseases, the only way to really know what they have is by having a pathology test done. That costs a lot unless, as someone suggested in another thread, you have a nearby university lab that will do it for free.

There are some people on here that may be able to recognize the problem more readily (they just haven't checked the board as yet, or are busy), so if you can post pictures and water parameters they may be able to help further.

Roan
 
Galaxie said:
If you are concerned about internal parasites, there is a food and water treatment you can purchase, made by Jungle Labs. Its called "Internal parasite Food" ....not a creative name I guess. I used it for about a month, but later hooked up a U/V sterilizer I had laying around.
Click to expand...
I had the bacterial one and my fish wouldn't touch it :) I even crunched it up and mixed it with brine shrimp and stuff. They spit it out. Filly sish :)

Roan
 
This is the first time I've tried to attach a picture so if it doesn't work. Sorry!
Pic is fuzzy but yes that is a neon. his spine is bent and his back half is skinny. no lesions or lumps or tumors.

Image047[1] (2).jpg
 
No outward signs, but bent spine? I'm sticking with the internal parasite idea. Your fish may simply get skinny and bent, as you see, as the parasite attacks internal organs. Once the fish is that far, you've got to get him out of the community then treat the community tank. If you fish won't eat the anti-parasite food, let them go hungry for a few days, then they'll eat it. Also, there is a treatment you mix with the water. The food itself doesn't have to be the total solution.
 
The medication I am using is called Pipzine. I am soaking frozen krill and frozen bloodworms for about 30 min. in about 4 ounces of tank water to which I have added one capsule (10 gal treatment). I'm adding the contents of the other four capsules directly to the tank (I'm treating a total net volume of 50 gallons) and then feeding the krill and bloodworms. I removed the carbon from the filters. I have one more treatment to go of this. Once I'm done, would it be of any use to add salt when I put carbon back in and do a partial water change?
Does a UV sterilizer kill parasites and bacteria?

Thanks for all the help! I've moved the sick neon to a one gallon fish bowl with water from the main tank and some anacharis and hornwort. I've got him under a light to try and maintain the temp - the anacharis is giving him shade. He's still eating like nothings wrong!
 
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