Absolute DISASTER with neons

[Sounguru]

Rach hit them with stress coat or something similar... Neons are a real shocky fish and can die from shock days after they arrive. We had a tank of 100 start to go belly up and I had the girls hit them with a heavy dose of stress coat and it seemed to slow it down we lost about 25% when it was all over but the rest seemed to pull out of it....

A small dose of aquarium salt will work in a pinch if you don't have stress coat.

 

[msjinkzd]

i used prime, i will see if I have stress coat. thanks folks. I am literally in tears watching all these fish

 

[BioHazard]

How many have you lost?

 

[msjinkzd]

hundreds

 

[jackiomy]

I am so sorry about your neons Rachel. I know you are as big a softie as I am.

 

[BioHazard]

Wow.
Geez, what the heck is going on??? It doesn't make any sense...why are the neons dropping but not the other fish? Has the pH suddenly peaked or plummeted? But still, I would think that would affect the other fish...
If it's something in the water, it would have to be something neon specific. I can't imagine that there is any kind of poison that would only affect one fish species. I would also think that any change in water chemistry would at least have some effect on the other fish. Are the otos or hatchets acting strange at all?
Rather than something in or wrong with the water, I would think it is something inherent in the neons, which would explain the lack of symptoms in the other fish. I've heard that wild caught fish are often captured using mild poisons.

Aggg, it's so frustrating! It doesn't make sense!!
And it's not fair!

 

[froglover007]

That is horrible. very strange indeed. How old are they? Although it is a bit of a long shot, perhaps they are all about the same age and are dieing of old age?

 

[msjinkzd]

They are 1/2", young fish.

I have been crying about these for the past few hours. My husband is fed up with me crying over fish I just got in. I am frustrated. I dont' knwo what to do. I added the stress coat and have added two large volume sponge filters.

The hatchets are acting perfect, the otos are acting perfect. since they came in, I have lost 2 otos out of 300 and 3 hatchets out of 150. That is sooooo below what is normal for importation. I have no idea what is going on. I have isolated out about 50 neons to a different tank to see if its something in the tank, other than that, I don't know what to do. This sucks My heart is breaking for these little fish I tried to save.

 

[grumpygrady]

sorry to hear about the neons the only thing i can think of is a lot more air
couple of more pumps with the rod type of diffuser i am thinking that with the stress they are needing twice as much oxgen in the water and add the stress coat also
The color may also fade during a period of stress, such as human intervention into the tank. Neons are best kept in a densely planted tank with subdued light and an ideal temperature of 78-80 degrees Fahrenheit to resemble their native Amazon environment

 

[snoopy65]

I have been reading since seeing this thread. Tank raised do ok with just about any water but wild caught neons and green neons require very soft acidic water at a temp of less than 77 F. If kept above that temp or having a major change in the ph, kh, gh...they can go belly up rather quickly.

I know your water is like mine hard as nails.....I don't know how you can adjust it quickly enough to save them.