Neon tetras won't eat

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FishyWarrior

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Jun 10, 2017
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After the tragedy in my 40 gallon i decided to go ahead with my stocking plan of neon tetras. I got 15 of them and quarantined them for a whole month, and later got 9 more which i also quarantined. They were all doing very well in quarantine, they were all eating and seemed very healthy! But as soon as i transfer them to the 40 gallon, they just stopped eating completely. I'm sure it was in part due to stress from the new environment but several weeks later they still aren't eating. At least, i don't see them eat at all.

The same thing happened with the 9 other ones, did great in quarantine and were all little piggies. But now they don't eat just like the others after the move. The 40 gallon had a whole month to sort out whatever problems occurred in there and all the previous fish except for 1 healthy cory (and some baby platies that i missed) were rehomed. I figured since i thought it was an ammonia spike that killed the previous fish it would be fine for new ones after some time and many water changes.

They seem interested in the food and don't appear stressed at all (swimming around, scattered in the tank, breathing normal etc). They go up to the food but spit it out. I figured the food might be bad even though it was the same mix i used when they were in quarantine. So i tried live daphnia and frozen bloodworms. It seems like one or two go after those but most don't.

I'm at a loss as to what's going on here, If anyone can troubleshoot and help me find a solution i would very much appreciate it.
 

FreshyFresh

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What are your readings in PPM for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate in the 40g? How did you keep the nitrogen cycle going in that tank before adding the neons?
 

FishyWarrior

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The biggest difference between the two tanks is light. I don't have one on the quarantine tank. I thought it would be less stressful for them if i let the window give them a natural day/night cycle. I factored that in and tried the 24/7 mode on my light on the 40 gallon but it didn't really affect them. Just in case i've been setting the light really dim just before it turns off at night so that it will also turn on dim and not be such a drastic change. They do seem to be out more when the dim light is on so i think i will buy some floating plants for them.
There's also less cover in the quarantine, just a couple fake plants and a broken pot. Everything else is the same parameter wise between all my tanks. I guess there's less tannins in the main tank despite having almond leaves in there too.

It's 0,0,0-5 right now in the 40 gal, but there's lots of plants and i did a water change yesterday. Nitrate is usually right under 20 ppm while the others are 0.

I kept the cycle going because there was never a time that tank was without fish completely. There were many snails, a couple cories, shrimp, and baby platies left over from the previous stock. (platies will be rehomed when they get older, i didn't see them when i was taking out the other fish) I know it was still a very light stock so i added the neons slowly, considering their light bioload i thought it would be ok. I was still sure to test the water every day just to make sure. Never had problems with ammonia or anything since adding them. I took my water in to the pet store to test and bought a new test kit for ammonia just to be sure.
 

OrionGirl

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I'd guess they're eating microfauna from the plants. If they are moving around normally, and aren't dropping weight, they're likely fine.
 

tanker

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What is your temp? I may lower it to 74 or so to keep their metabolism down. The blood worms maybe too big for Neons. Do they eat the Daphnia?
 

FishyWarrior

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What is your temp? I may lower it to 74 or so to keep their metabolism down. The blood worms maybe too big for Neons. Do they eat the Daphnia?
Yeah i lowered the temp a little bit more for them today, but i always keep it at 75 for them. I tried giving them frozen daphnia yesterday but they weren't interested. When my lfs restocks on live daphnia i'll try that again, they at least perk them up a little bit.
Today i soaked the bloodworms in garlic guard and a couple actually ate a few, particularly the ones that weren't as thin as the others. But most of them still weren't interested.
 

fishorama

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Can you post pics? I'm concerned about possible "neon tetra disease". It often looks like their blue color is NOT a straight line, either bent or with a whitish area. Not eating is the other sign to me. I hope not, there's no treatment
 
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