For the last 2 or 3 days one of my neon tetra's has been struggling to swim (it kind of bobs up and down, looks like it is a big effort for it) and has a bloated belly. It also seems to be losing color right in the middle. I had another one die unexpectedly 2 weeks ago. Could I have NDT in my tank? What should I do??? Thanks!
It could be--especially if the other fish displayed the same symptoms. Iw ould remove the ailing fish immediately--NTD is contagious and can affect other fish as well. There is no cure, so removing the fish and either euthanizing them, or maintaining them in another tank until they die is your only option. Getting them out of the tank minimizes the chance that other fish will become infected.
The other fish seperated itself from the group but I didn't notice the big stomach or wierd swimming with him....then again I was gone a few days when he died so I might have missed it. Does anyone have any tips on euthanizing? I read somewhere about getting some almost frozen water and putting him in that. Oh man I will feel sooo bad, I don't want to!!
here are the symptoms of neon tetra disease as listed on a fish disease web page i found: NTD check it out and see if it matches what you see in your tank. there is a thread from a couple days ago on this board about different methods of euthanasia :sad i can never do it either unless it is apparent they are suffering and there is no way they are going to get better, in which case i have done the freezer way once or twice. if you want to give them a chance, set up an extra 5 or 10 gallon really quick and put them in there until they die or get better. :sad
I would say it pretty much sounds like it. Except my fish has been bloated for days, so dosn't seem like a "last stage" for it? Poor little thing. He seemed a little better last time I looked. He sure is trying! I would like to do the new tank thing but I don't have any more of them. (2 are in use now, one w/a cichlid and that definatly wouldn't work w/the tetra!!) Incidently, I'm wondering now if it's even okay to have 6 tetras and a albino cory cat all together in a 5 gallon...maybe it was too crowded? Still learning for sure.
The bloating problem doesn't sound like NTD to me. It is quite possible that it may have a secondary infection and dropsy. I have had several batches of neons get NTD a few years ago and one by one every fish exhibited the exact same symptoms. It started with a faded spot in the red stripe, near the base of the tail. The fish would live for another couple of months until finally isolating itself and dying. Out of each batch, several seemingly bullet-proof fish would emerge that ended up living a full lifespan. Based on this observation, I'm not convinced that NTD is a transmittable disease at all, but more of a genetic malfunction in a fish that is being mass produced to the point of absolutely POLLUTING it's original genetic structure.
