A couple days ago I noticed that one of my neon tetras appeared to be fading. The red slash is whitish now, but the fish acts normal. To be safe I have been treating with Triple Sulfa (I had bought it to treat a septicemia infection in my goldfish tank and wound up not needing because I cured it with tetracycline) but the whitish patch remains. Please tell me the fish is just suffering from old age or something else noncontageous. This aquarium is overstocked, overplanted and overfiltered and I really don't want to invite more problems by further mis-treating of a potential deseise. Any help would be appreciated.
Neon Tetra Deseise?
- Thread starter QCppg
- Start date
It would be a good idea to quarantine that fish from the others until you're sure what is happening. There is really no cure for neon tetra disease if that is indeed what it is.
When I had neons, I would notice that their colors seemed to fade occassionally for no apparent reason. It would just be one or two fish that looked faded, or kind of washed out. I'd put them into a hospital tank for observation and every time the next day their colors were fine again.
While researching NTD, I did run across several posts on various message boards from people who had similiar experiences. I also found some photos of NTD that showed a distinct white band running almost vertically through the tail end of the fish. Mine were faded evenly from front to back, not just one streak.
Hopefully yours doesn't turn out to be NTD either, but if you'll do a search on google for neon tetra disease, you'll come up with a lot of information that may help you determine for sure if it is or not.
When I had neons, I would notice that their colors seemed to fade occassionally for no apparent reason. It would just be one or two fish that looked faded, or kind of washed out. I'd put them into a hospital tank for observation and every time the next day their colors were fine again.
While researching NTD, I did run across several posts on various message boards from people who had similiar experiences. I also found some photos of NTD that showed a distinct white band running almost vertically through the tail end of the fish. Mine were faded evenly from front to back, not just one streak.
Hopefully yours doesn't turn out to be NTD either, but if you'll do a search on google for neon tetra disease, you'll come up with a lot of information that may help you determine for sure if it is or not.
Last year after the blackout I had an outbreak of NTD that killed all my neons and rasboras. All the affected fish had areas of muscle that went whitish under their dorsal fins. Take a very close look at your neon. If you think what you're seeing could be under the skin, you could have NTD. The white is actually muscle being affected by the disease, and can show up under the dorsal fin or in front of the tail.
If you Google Neon Tetra Disease there are lots of sites with pictures that can help you identify whether that's what you've got or not. If you make a certain, positive ID, euthanize any fish that show symptoms - there's no cure, it's contagious, and they're in pain.
If you Google Neon Tetra Disease there are lots of sites with pictures that can help you identify whether that's what you've got or not. If you make a certain, positive ID, euthanize any fish that show symptoms - there's no cure, it's contagious, and they're in pain.
The discoloration is definately under the skin (the irridecence is faded). Only two fish are affected, and the fading on them is limited to the red irridescence and is just ahead of the tail. The fish act normally, which is why I'm asking, if they were acting sick I would have destroyed them already.
I just checked and they seem to be deteriorating... I will likely remove and euthanise them later today (at the moment all my nets, as well as my quarintene tank, are still contaminated with septicemia... D*** Wal-Mart fish anyways!). How long should I wait to see if the infection is gone? Last time I got neons was over a month ago and this problem appeared quite suddenly. Also, can other fish contract or carry this deseise or is it limited to carcarins? The tank also includes cichlids (Angelfish) and catfish (common pleco, aneus corydoras and striped raphael) and some ghost shrimps and snails and a crawfish that lives in the sump.
Thanks for the help, even though it was bad news...
I just checked and they seem to be deteriorating... I will likely remove and euthanise them later today (at the moment all my nets, as well as my quarintene tank, are still contaminated with septicemia... D*** Wal-Mart fish anyways!). How long should I wait to see if the infection is gone? Last time I got neons was over a month ago and this problem appeared quite suddenly. Also, can other fish contract or carry this deseise or is it limited to carcarins? The tank also includes cichlids (Angelfish) and catfish (common pleco, aneus corydoras and striped raphael) and some ghost shrimps and snails and a crawfish that lives in the sump.
Thanks for the help, even though it was bad news...
From www.aquahobby.com (I just did a Google search for 'neon tetra disease' and found A LOT of stuff):
"Neon Tetra Disease: Fish infected with Neon Tetra Disease will show signs of becoming pale in color (white patches beneath their skin). The fish will not school with the others and become listless. Through the latter stages of the disease the fish´s body will begin to degenerate. Usually the tail end of the body will seem dwarfed and becomes useless, this will cause the fish to have trouble swimming. Upon witnessing these symptoms, death is imminent, consider euthanasia. To my knowledge their is no cure for the disease. I have seen the disease many times and have yet to see it become an epidemic. The disease will however continue to infect your fish until the cause has been remedied. Neon Tetra Disease is usually caused by stress due to poor water conditions, shock (dramatic change of environment), or being harassed by other fish. The disease is fatal but it will not kill them that quickly. It is a degenerative disease that goes through many phases and may take weeks before they will die, the actual amount of time depends on the general health of the fish. The disease is borne of a cyst and it will migrate to the digestive system and eventually the muscles of the infected fish."
From aquaria.info:
"Neon Tetra Disease
Causative Agent: Plistophora hyphressobryconis is a microsporidian parasite capable of infecting all tetras, angelfish, barbs, and rasboras.
Appearance: Parasites infect the muscles of the fish resulting in loss of color and a deformed appearance of the fish. Fish loss can be high."
The disease is isn't limited to neons but, TMK, catfish are rarely if ever affected. I do suggest you keep an eye on your angel. After the blackout last year all we lost were neons and harlequin rasboras, but we lost all of them (we had two big, beautiful groups, it was sad, so I know what you're going through).
If you're certain that it's NTD, I suggest immediately euthanizing fish that show symptoms. When infected fish die, the cysts burst and they release the Plistophora, which then goes on to infect another. Removing infected fish before this happens may save some of your fish from getting sick.
"Neon Tetra Disease: Fish infected with Neon Tetra Disease will show signs of becoming pale in color (white patches beneath their skin). The fish will not school with the others and become listless. Through the latter stages of the disease the fish´s body will begin to degenerate. Usually the tail end of the body will seem dwarfed and becomes useless, this will cause the fish to have trouble swimming. Upon witnessing these symptoms, death is imminent, consider euthanasia. To my knowledge their is no cure for the disease. I have seen the disease many times and have yet to see it become an epidemic. The disease will however continue to infect your fish until the cause has been remedied. Neon Tetra Disease is usually caused by stress due to poor water conditions, shock (dramatic change of environment), or being harassed by other fish. The disease is fatal but it will not kill them that quickly. It is a degenerative disease that goes through many phases and may take weeks before they will die, the actual amount of time depends on the general health of the fish. The disease is borne of a cyst and it will migrate to the digestive system and eventually the muscles of the infected fish."
From aquaria.info:
"Neon Tetra Disease
Causative Agent: Plistophora hyphressobryconis is a microsporidian parasite capable of infecting all tetras, angelfish, barbs, and rasboras.
Appearance: Parasites infect the muscles of the fish resulting in loss of color and a deformed appearance of the fish. Fish loss can be high."
The disease is isn't limited to neons but, TMK, catfish are rarely if ever affected. I do suggest you keep an eye on your angel. After the blackout last year all we lost were neons and harlequin rasboras, but we lost all of them (we had two big, beautiful groups, it was sad, so I know what you're going through).
If you're certain that it's NTD, I suggest immediately euthanizing fish that show symptoms. When infected fish die, the cysts burst and they release the Plistophora, which then goes on to infect another. Removing infected fish before this happens may save some of your fish from getting sick.
Ntd
At the store we have had decent to moderate success with a combination of Ampicillin and formalin.
I say decent to moderate because it works if we catch it early enough. However if it is not caught until the latter stages we just end up removing the infected fish because the treatment doesn't work. We then treat the whole tank for a few days to stop the spread to the other fish.
It is very very contagious to the other neons in the tank.
If left untreated a tank of 500 fish can be wiped out in a matter of days.
At the store we have had decent to moderate success with a combination of Ampicillin and formalin.
I say decent to moderate because it works if we catch it early enough. However if it is not caught until the latter stages we just end up removing the infected fish because the treatment doesn't work. We then treat the whole tank for a few days to stop the spread to the other fish.
It is very very contagious to the other neons in the tank.
If left untreated a tank of 500 fish can be wiped out in a matter of days.
Occasionally my neons have faded and lost their blue stripe for no reason. The first few times it happened, I didn't know about NTD, so I didn't do anything. Good thing, too, because it wasn't NTD. The blue would come back eventually. In some parts of the tank, too, there is no color on the fish. Depends on how much light is hitting them, I guess. It's confusing, and it's a hard call to make. Unless, of course, the sypmtoms are all there, not just the fading. Good luck and let us know how your neon's doing.
I managed to catch the worst of the two fish that show a fade. I destroyed that fish just to be safe. When I catch the second fish I will place it in quarintene to see if the symptoms get worse (to determine if it is NTD or something else). I may be missing a neon (I had ten and only counted nine including the one I just put down), but there are so many plants that it may be hiding either in them or it may have been caught in the overflow for my sump. Let's just hope that it didn't die and spread parasites around...
Now what kinds of animals can transmit this deseise, and can it lay dormant? The only animals that I added before symptoms appeared (that is within about 3 weeks) are 20 ghost shrimps. The last fish to go in was an angelfish over a month ago. NONE of the angelfish show any symptoms of anything whatsoever.
Now what kinds of animals can transmit this deseise, and can it lay dormant? The only animals that I added before symptoms appeared (that is within about 3 weeks) are 20 ghost shrimps. The last fish to go in was an angelfish over a month ago. NONE of the angelfish show any symptoms of anything whatsoever.
There is not known treatment for NTD. By definition, if a fish was cured by antibiotic treatment, it did not have NTD.
Euthanizing fish
Not totally related to this thread, but seemed appropriate.
How do you euthanize a fish? (aside from taking it to a vet for massive doses of barbituates or something) I've not had to do it, and wouldn't know how to do it if I did have to. I imagine you could "bury at sea" or place in the freezer, but both seem rather cruel to do to a fish that isn't already dead.
Not totally related to this thread, but seemed appropriate.
How do you euthanize a fish? (aside from taking it to a vet for massive doses of barbituates or something) I've not had to do it, and wouldn't know how to do it if I did have to. I imagine you could "bury at sea" or place in the freezer, but both seem rather cruel to do to a fish that isn't already dead.