When I bought neon tetras, I bought 40 small neons (which was not a good idea). I think I crashed my cycle when I added 40 of them in the same time. They got NTD the following day. One week later, they are 30. One week later, they are 20. After one month they stopped dying. And after one week they are 10. And now they are only 9. They stopped dying again recently and their colors came back. Are the spores of NTD are still in the tank? Am I safe of adding new fish again?
Neon Tetra Disease outbreak...
- Thread starter fish tank hobbyist
- Start date
So, is this a new tank? What size is the tank? I would say you crashed the cycle, causing Neon tetra disease. Since you say there colours are back, I'm now wondering how active they are? I would still wait a week, add a little aquarium salt, and then you're in the clear.
I wouldn't add aquarium salt personally. It does nothing for NTD.
I can't say if it's safe to add new fish without knowing your water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate), how big your tank is and what your maintenance is like.
I can't say if it's safe to add new fish without knowing your water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate), how big your tank is and what your maintenance is like.
Aquarium salt does not cure any particular disease, that's true, but seems to promote fish health. I agree that you need to know your water parameters. We still need to know the size of the tank. And, were you keeping up with water changes when they started dying? Were you treating them with medication?
It does not necessarily "promote health" in all species or in all cases. In fact, there is a lot of evidence that argues counter to that. It can result in stress for aquatic plants, invertebrates, and many species of fish. Salt is basically useful if you are directly treating something. In other cases, its at best a waste of time, effort and money, and in worst cases a source of stress. People say "oh salt increases slime coat production, so it makes the fish more resilient." It promotes slime coat production because it is an irritant. If fish are stressed they produce more slime. More stress actually results in more infections. Additionally, neons are one of the species that, anecdotally, have adverse reactions to the addition of aquarium salt. Because of this, I would not recommend the addition of salt to this tank in this scenario.
Really? Well, know I know. We still really need to the tank size. This could be a disease caused by overstocking, and cycle crashing.
My tank is holding 20 gallons and is previously the home of 4 angelfish that has been moved in my 55 gallon. I don't know my water parameters because test kits are very expensive. About 1000 Php. I want to move the glofish and platies to my 20 gallon that is currently in my 55. My neons that survived the outbreak (I euthanized all the neons that has NTD) is active and eating.Am i safe to move the glofish and platies to my 20 gallon?
To be honest, without knowing the water parameters your guess is as good as mine. Since I can't see the fish to know if the outbreak is over, you would actually have the better informed decision in this case. I would suggest doing a good size water change before you move the fish though.
Hey, you know what would really help is if you could post some pics of the sick fish so we can see if they still look sick. Can you do that, please?
Wait, this is a 20 gallon tank and you added 40 neons? I think that might be part of your problem - overstocking, which will cause a bunch of problems from overloading the bio filter to stressing out the fish. Overstocking also causes ammonia spikes, which in turn negatively affects your fish.
A test kit will help you figure out if you do have water quality issues.
A test kit will help you figure out if you do have water quality issues.
