Neon Tetra Disease-Please Help

[Nilsha Pathirana]

Hi,

I have had really bad luck with my tank. I have a 95 litre tank and I have 4 green neon tetras, 4 cardinals, 5 harlequins and 4 rummy noses. I also have 4 corydoras and a pleco.

3 out of 4 of my green neon tetras died when I had a nitrate spike a few months ago or thought it was the culprit. I do two water changes a week and now I have 0 nitrites and 10-20 nitrates. My tank is heavily planted, I feed my fish every other and even with regular water changes I struggle to keep my nitrate levels lower than 10ppm.

A few weeks ago I replaced my 3 green neons and they were fine for a few weeks and now they have all got the same symptoms. They have spots on their fins and their body. It’s not ick. And they are also losing the red colour.

Can someone please help me, I don’t want to lose anymore of my fish.

 

[Jspigs]

Looks similar to when my harlequin rasboras had columnaris, a bacterial infection that resembles fungus. I had success treating with furan 2 for a few weeks. I will stop short of saying that's definitely what it is, but that is definitely my suspicion.

 

[Nilsha Pathirana]

Looks similar to when my harlequin rasboras had columnaris, a bacterial infection that resembles fungus. I had success treating with furan 2 for a few weeks. I will stop short of saying that's definitely what it is, but that is definitely my suspicion.

Thank you so much. I just bought furan 2, but it takes a month to arrive to Australia. I’m going to treat them with melafix until it arrives.

 

[the loach]

This could very well be neon disease. Remove the affected fish immediately. You can hope it is columnaris and treat it (neon disease can't be treated) but do so in a hospital tank. Contrary to popular belief, neon disease can spread to other species as well.

Nitrates at 10 ppm is great for a planted tank. Lowering them will cause algae.

 

[fishorama]

I think it looks more like columnaris than NTD since I see the white on the dorsal fin too. Both can spread to other species. If TL is right & it's NTD, there is no tx, isolate or euthanasia are your best options.

I think, (but can't remember for sure) the TX for columnaris is erythromycin...It might be 1 of the few gram postive bacteria in fish. Look it up before ordering drugs, if that is allowed where you live...every country has it's own laws...most of us on AC are in the US, but not all. There's also the Marycin 1 & 2, (gram pos & neg antibiotics as I recall, it's been a very long time). You might want to find an Aussie fish board for more specific drug suggestions that you can get. Melafix is 1 of those "natural products" that only helps in the lightest cases of some diseases (can you tell I'm not a believer?). TL knows more about those...but I think he would have said...

 

[Nilsha Pathirana]

I think it looks more like columnaris than NTD since I see the white on the dorsal fin too. Both can spread to other species. If TL is right & it's NTD, there is no tx, isolate or euthanasia are your best options.

I think, (but can't remember for sure) the TX for columnaris is erythromycin...It might be 1 of the few gram postive bacteria in fish. Look it up before ordering drugs, if that is allowed where you live...every country has it's own laws...most of us on AC are in the US, but not all. There's also the Marycin 1 & 2, (gram pos & neg antibiotics as I recall, it's been a very long time). You might want to find an Aussie fish board for more specific drug suggestions that you can get. Melafix is 1 of those "natural products" that only helps in the lightest cases of some diseases (can you tell I'm not a believer?). TL knows more about those...but I think he would have said...

Thank you so much for all your recommendations. I really hope it’s columnaris and not neon tetra disease ?That’s my problem. None of these meds are available in Australia, so my options are very limited. Hopefully I’ll get the furan 2 in a couple of weeks. I have bought melafix and Pimafix for now. I have started treating them with pimafix.

 

[the loach]

It could be columnaris as well, but that was not my point. The only way to prevent loosing more fish is separating them right now. You don't want to experiment with treatments for contagious diseases in your main tank.

 

[Sprinkle]

I agree with T the loach . I just wanted to put it one more thing, 4 corydoras is not enough. They should be in group of 6+.

 

[Nilsha Pathirana]

It could be columnaris as well, but that was not my point. The only way to prevent loosing more fish is separating them right now. You don't want to experiment with treatments for contagious diseases in your main tank.

Yes, I have already moved them into a hospital tank.

 

[fishorama]

That seems your best option, a good move. Congrats on having a QT/hospital tank, not all do. Please keep us updated, we care even if we don't know how to help you in OZ. Fingers crossed for your fish...& fast shipping on drugs...We all hope they help soon!