Neon Tetra Help, Please, Thanks.

[Neutral_Water]

Hey, I'm new to this forum and recently got eight neon tetras and had the recruit mistake of releasing them immediately into my tank after letting them rest on top of the water for about five minutes. I'm quite sure my ammonia, nitrates and nitrites are low. (If this can aid in helping me I have three plant species Barcopa, Baby Tears, Vallis) So after the release they were fine and I did several PH tests to get a teal semi green colour, I had already adjusted the water with other chemicals to make sure Ammonia and Nitrites were zero, so anyways the main problem is my Neon tetra are down near the gravel, in the corner twitching, some aren't twitching, most are to some extent, and I have in resort turned off the oxygen and lights as I assume it may be stress. How long do I leave the lights and pump off for? How do I also ensure they are accustomed to Light and Air pump as best as possible

Thank you so much, I look forward to see the advice this community will give I'll try post pics

 

[Tifftastic]

What are your exact readings of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? What did you use for dechlorinating the water? What "other chemicals" did you add? What temperature is the tank?

I wouldn't turn off the air pump. The oxygen is not likely causing stress, but more likely to help reduce it. Turning off the lights was a good plan though.

 

[Neutral_Water]

What are your exact readings of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? What did you use for dechlorinating the water? What "other chemicals" did you add? What temperature is the tank?

I wouldn't turn off the air pump. The oxygen is not likely causing stress, but more likely to help reduce it. Turning off the lights was a good plan though.

Thank you for coming to my aid, I have to come to realise with the lights off they tend to venture further out and upward. I'm just wondering how could I subtly introduce light to my aquarium as I heard my baby tears need alot of light. My Ammonia and Nitrates are at zero I tested a few hours ago (plus I haven't had any new fish in this before) whilst buying these neons, however just to be sure I went to purchase some Aqua One Ammonia & Chlorine Neutraliser and poured around 5mls of it for my 52.5 litre tank. Prior to this I have filtered my tank and done 25% water changes for a straight 5 days each day pouring 5mls of Bio start, I think however my fish have calmed dow significantly but the cause of the problem may be my PH, I just placed in another dosage of PH down hoping to cure this, I have read that drift wood helps maintain PH? Neons are fine as of now I might just head off to bed and see how their doing in the morning, tad bit confused and wondering how to introduce light to my plants and fish, (Plus Water temp is 24-26 Degrees). Thanks heaps

 

[ustabefast]

I'm not a fan of trying to adjust ph or anything else with chemicals. You mention other chemicals. Which ones? That alone may be your problem.
The lights are probably not the cause of the Neons' distress.
How long has the tank been set up? if it's still cycling, you may have elevated Nitrites; did you measure for Nitrites or just Nitrates?
Turning off the O2 is not a good idea.
Are there other fish in the tank?
Best case, perhaps they are just a little stressed from being introduced into a new tank.

 

[myswtsins]

What is your pH without chemicals added? If you try to fight the pH with chemicals your fish will lose 99% of the time. A stable but not ideal pH is much better than a constantly fluctuating pH. But you need to make the change to your normal pH slowly as well, don't just stop using the pH down instantly.

The lights being off is a great choice though. Beyond the fact that fish are more relaxed in subdued lighting, the lights being on causes the plants to photosynthesize removing CO2 from the water and this process actually raises pH. Now do you have enough plants for this to have any real effect? I don't know. But this could be part of the reason they are more relaxed with the lights off. Now this does happen in everyone's tank as well and fish are accustomed to it (cause it happens in the wild too) but since there is already a pH issue this could be making it worse.

 

[Neutral_Water]

I'm not a fan of trying to adjust ph or anything else with chemicals. You mention other chemicals. Which ones? That alone may be your problem.
The lights are probably not the cause of the Neons' distress.
How long has the tank been set up? if it's still cycling, you may have elevated Nitrites; did you measure for Nitrites or just Nitrates?
Turning off the O2 is not a good idea.
Are there other fish in the tank?
Best case, perhaps they are just a little stressed from being introduced into a new tank.

Hello thank you for your concern, they have begun schooling together now but one seems to be missing, they are going crazy when food is placed in. How else can I adjust my PH without the sodium biphosphate thing??? They are breathing totally fine I just switched on the light to keep my plants growing but they are back in the corner again luckily still in their group so they aren't stressing but seem to be moving around as one. Anyway I can remove the dead fish without disturbing the rest? Thanks

Edit: they are swimming a bit higher than staying down in the gravel, do you have any idea as to how long they will stay in this group thing for? Should i attemp to gently shift he light to their corner to push them to move out? Idk, thanks for the help : )

 

[Neutral_Water]

Hello

What is your pH without chemicals added? If you try to fight the pH with chemicals your fish will lose 99% of the time. A stable but not ideal pH is much better than a constantly fluctuating pH. But you need to make the change to your normal pH slowly as well, don't just stop using the pH down instantly.

The lights being off is a great choice though. Beyond the fact that fish are more relaxed in subdued lighting, the lights being on causes the plants to photosynthesize removing CO2 from the water and this process actually raises pH. Now do you have enough plants for this to have any real effect? I don't know. But this could be part of the reason they are more relaxed with the lights off. Now this does happen in everyone's tank as well and fish are accustomed to it (cause it happens in the wild too) but since there is already a pH issue this could be making it worse.

Sorry, I assumed the plants took in the ammonia and nitrates in part of a cycle? I also at the same time don't want them to perish, so I'll turn off my lights after I take these photos as you say but how do i keep this balance between plants and fish cause I know on the label it says baby tears and the barcopa needs moderate to high light levels. I'm certain there are some good bio bacteria in my tanks or else my fishes wouldn't have lived through the night. Thanks I just don't wish my plants to die since their still essentially quite small. Should I move the plants to one corner and let the light have that side? I tipped my baby tears on its side for a sorta cover thing for the tetras. Holy **** I just realised there is a two snails in my tank which came from the baby tears I bought yesterday, can anyone identify it??? Is it eating my baby tears?

 

[fishorama]

Definitely remove dead fish! They only add to ammonia etc. Slowly stop adding the pH down, most neons are captive bred & apt to be able to withstand a higher pH than "ideal".

What is your tapwater pH? Do you have an API Master Test kit to measure your tank's parameters? (nitrite nitrtate, ammonia, pH, KH & GH). If not, get 1!

Are you in Australia? or Washington St.? I'm confused...but it can help to understand regional water issues.

What type of lighting, filtration, tank size, etc do you have? More info please! Did you cycle the tank before adding fish?

 

[Neutral_Water]

Definitely remove dead fish! They only add to ammonia etc. Slowly stop adding the pH down, most neons are captive bred & apt to be able to withstand a higher pH than "ideal".

What is your tapwater pH? Do you have an API Master Test kit to measure your tank's parameters? (nitrite nitrtate, ammonia, pH, KH & GH). If not, get 1!

Are you in Australia? or Washington St.? I'm confused...but it can help to understand regional water issues.

What type of lighting, filtration, tank size, etc do you have? More info please! Did you cycle the tank before adding fish?

I place the tap water heavy metals detoxifier liquid in it my tanks is around 50 litres-52.5 litres big I'm from Australia Perth I have cycled my tanks serveral days prior to adding these in with dosages of bio start each day, I might get a piece of drift wood as I hear they reduce PH a lot I do not have more fish I'm using an IKEA desk lamp. I have a heater on set at 26 degrees for the tetras. I just moved the things around to find the dead one but I can't seem to find a body? I want to clarify the twitching has stopped once they have joined up and close to to each other

 

[fishorama]

OK, most of us are in the US here on AC so there may be some translation issues, but we'll try to help. Have you tested your water parameters? Some shops will do it for free, others not.

Did you test to see if your tank was cycled BEFORE adding fish? How did you "cycle" it? A "few days" is not usually long enough...by several weeks. That might be able to work, IF you are willing & able to change 50% or more water every day & test!! That is really the only way to tell.

Your few plants may help but they're not really enough to do a "silent cycle" (look it up). I'm not familiar with "bio-start", some have the "right" bacteria but others don't.

If you don't have a test kit, plan to do a 50% WC daily. This is not ideal but if the fish are hardy & healthy it can work...your tank is small compared to some, so not too much work...but daily or every other day work!