Neons disease?

thomkat

thomkat

AC Members
Mar 10, 2005
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Bristol, United Kingdom
Hello there,

I bought 5 neon tetras the other day and late last night I noticed a dry, grey patch on one of them, in the centre of the body, right under the fin. The patch covered about a third of it's small body on one side. This morning, two of them were dead (although I can't find the body of one of them anywhere). I'm a complete novice when it comes to diseases so if anyone has any idea - or a decent link to identfying disease, I'd be grateful. I don';t want the rest of the tank to be infected so need to treat I imagine as well.

The fish are guaranteed and I know I ought to replace them but I distrust the shop now and would rather find another.

On another note, when I bought these neons, the LFS accidently scooped up a red tail as well (which I was very chuffed about because they are lovely, and I didn't have to pay). "He's" a bit of a loner though. Very active, but doesn't school. Should he have companions like himself? Or will he be OK on his own? (assuming the neon disease doesn't kill them all )

Tank has:
1 pregnant swordtail
3 neon tetras
5 x-ray tetras
1 red eye tetra (another LFS mistake)
1 red-tail tetra

Water tests absolutely fine.
 
neons

From what I have read, and I did read extensively before buying neons because I was a little apprehensive, that does sound like neon tetra disease. They do develop white patches like that. The disease does not usually work that fast though, so they must have been a little bad off at the petstore, and then it was accelerated by the stress of the new tank. Was it completely cycled before you added the neons?? They are very sensitive to nitrite and ammonia and will not survive a tank that is not cycled. I would definitely remove. There is no treatment for neon tetra disease. The kindest way is euthanasia. The disease can affect other tetras, but your swordtail will be immune to it. If it were me I would take all the neons exhibiting any signs of disease out of the tank. It would be nice if you could find the body of the other one and get rid of it, though it is possible it was consumed by the other fish.
Sorry to hear of your problems. I got my neons a week ago, and so far so good. There are good breeders of neons out there, try to find fish that have been in the store a month and look very healthy. Ask them if they have had any problems with neons in the past. They are however, a delicate fish until they are established in your aquarium. After a month they become quite hardy. They also do not like high nitrates so a clean tank is a must. One more thing, I read that they do better in a school of at least 7, and make sure that they have the biggest numbers in the tank. This makes them feel more secure and less stressed. They are a beautiful fish, and are worth the extra effort.
If you decide not to go with neons again, the glowlight tetra is a pretty fish that remains small, and is very hardy. Good luck!!
 
Read about neon tetra disease before you jump to the conclusion of that being the problem. You may very well have some treatable disease.
 
Its very tough to ditinguish between NTD and other diseases. If you decide to wait you do run a risk. Sad but true I'm afraid. Do a search for Neon Tetra Disease on the forum. People who have had it wipe out an entire tank certainly don't think it is anything to fool with. Do a search online to be sure that the tetras are exhibiting NTD symptoms (white patches are one of them) and do what you think you need to. Since you have had them such a short time, it does not look good.
 
Well I went away for the weekend and all the neons have now gone. I've managed to recover all the bodies and have removed them.

Following all your advice I have done some research on Neon Tetra Disease. I'm not sure if this is what the neons had, but am obviously quite worried now as I have learned it can spread to the other tetras. I am keeping a close eye on them and so far no others are exhibiting signs of the disease although I know symptons can appear slowly so I'll keep checking.

When I described the problem to my LFS (who I trust) they immediately, without hesitation, gave me some white spot medication. This surprised me as I did not see the common small white spots, but the LFS said it also appears as the grey patches I had been seeing. However, this medication does not seem to have saved the neons.

Another possible cause of death since it is a fairly new tank: when I went away over the weekend I stupidly, stupidly, left the filter unplugged. That, general waste and the dead bodies mean I now have readings of Ammonia 2.0, Nitrite 0.50, Nitrates 0.25. I am a newcomer to water-testing and as far as I can see from research, although these levels are higher than what I was testing last week, they are still not dangerously high and quite normal for a new tank. I would love to receive advice on what levels mean and how to deal with them - is there a good thread somewhere I could refer to?

I am doing daily 10% water changes at the moment - any more/less?


I now fortunately have a spare 10 gallon I can use for quarantine but need some advice on this. Since all I have now in my tank are tetras (x-ray, glow-light, red-tail) and one female swordtail* (who I believe on your advice and my research is immune) is there any point in using this quarantine tank? They will ALL either die, or survive, no?



*and possibly her hidden fry as she gave birth over the weekend. Though I don't think they survived as I cannot spot any!
 
Sorry to hear about the rest of the neons. If you do a search on "cycling" you will get lots of info on cycling a tank, and what the readings actually mean. Beneficial bacteria can die off in hours in a tank with no circulation of water, so now you are starting at square one again. The other tetras may not die off: maybe it was not actually NTD, it could have been the introduction to a new uncycled tank. Neons are VERY fussy about ammonia and nitrite, as well as really high nitrate. Even if it was NTD, if the other tetras may remain healthy; they may resist the disease. It only attacks weakened fish. That being said, now that your tank is uncycled and showing ammonia spikes again, the fish may be stressed. Be sure to implement daily 30 percent (vise 10) water changes to help keep the high ammonia / nitrite levels down.
There is no sense using a quarantine tank, since it would be uncycled as well (correct?). Remember that tetras do better in groups of six or more of their own kind, and this will go a long way in keeping them stress-free. If you do decide to add neons again, make sure the tank is completely cycled. There are other tetras that are more hardy if you don't want to bother.
Not sure if you turned off the filter by mistake, but it does need to run ALL the time to keep the beneficial bacteria alive. This will keep your tank cycled all the time once it gets there.
If you keep posting your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels, we can talk you through the cycling. You should test every day for the next bit, so you can decide if water changes are necessary. If you have ANY ammonia or nitrite readings, then a water change is warranted. Not sure what you have been told about ammonia and nitrite, but any level is harmful to the fish. No sense testing for nitrates until the ammonia and nitrite settle down. You will see an ammonia spike, followd by a nitrite spike, and finally the appearance of nitrates, which indicates a cycled tank. When you have steady nitrates and no ammonia or nitrites for an entire week, the tank is cycled.
Your lone species of tetra may or may not do well since they are by themselves and are a schooling fish. You may want to return them to the LFS. They MAY school with the other tetras, and if they do this is a good sign. If they are still acting as loners, I would consider returning them. Do not add any more fish until the tank is completetly cycled. Are you doing a gravel vacuum with the water changes???
Hope this is of some help. Keep us posted and if we can offer any more advice, there is lots of people here to do it. I have learned a tremendous amount from this forum. Lots of knowledgeable people to help out!!!
 
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