NTD Question.

[Kissofthegorami]

First sign of NTD I would kill the infected fish.
There is a good chance that your other neons may be infected, especially if they came from the same store tank as the infected neon. Cardinal tetras are initially more tender than neons, but they are immune to NTD.

 

[Paranoid]

Kissofthegorami Said
First sign of NTD I would kill the infected fish.

I know you are right Kissofthegorami. But I can't be sure that is what it is!! Whenever a Neon dies or gets sick NTD seems to be one of the first things people suspect (including me).... But I think it is just that it is incurable and we all have a natural fear of it. Fear = over reaction in most of us and I don't want to do that. I will keep a close eye on the rest of the fish and act when I feel much more sure that it is NTD and not something else. I have only lost one fish so far and it was euthanized because I over reacted to a single symptom of NTD.

 

[Holly9937]

I've had neons in the past and never had problems, I actually didn't get all of mine at the same store, just more to add to my being so frustrated.

 

[Paranoid]

Holly9937, I have kept neons for many years and never had any real problems with them. I had a major tank crash last October and lost all but one fish (a Pleco) and am starting all over with a bigger tank. :dance We had the last group for many years (more than I can remember) and really liked having neons, which is why we put them in the new tank.
Anyway here is a link to the best site I have been able to find that explains what to expect if it is NTD. The NTD section is about 3/4 of the way down the page and is some pretty scary stuff!!

Well good luck and let me know if there are any changes in your situaton. Everything is looking good with my neons at the moment. I hope getting rid of the first sick one so quickly will stop it in it's tracks.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Neon Tetra Disease

Symptoms: Whitened areas deep into the fishes' flesh. Muscle degeneration leading to abnormal swimming movements.

So named for the fish it was first recognized on. It is caused by the sporozoa Plistophora hyphessobryconis. Even though it is named after Neon Tetras, it can appear on other fish. Whitish patches appear as if just below the skin. In Neon Tetras it destroys the bright blue-green neon stripe. The organisms form cysts which burst and release spores. The spores penetrate further and form more cysts. Eventually, the spores migrate to the water and are eaten by other fish in the food. These spores migrate into the digestive tract, then the muscles, and a new infection starts.
There is no known cure. It is best to destroy the infected fish and clean the aquarium.

From http://www.animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/information/Diseases.htm

 

[Holly9937]

Errr... I'm still not convinced it it NTD, I just found out my nitrates are REALLY high, I wonder if that could be the problem. They really have no symptoms other than the pale red stripe, and the one site says it affects the blue stripe :thud: . How would you go about dismantling your tank? What do you do with the fish?!? I don't think that will be an option, and I don't need anymore in the fish at the tank (I'm at or above stocking as is), so a long term quarantine of the tank is not a problem.

 

[Paranoid]

Update

Busy weekend so no time to post updates... So here is where I stand at the moment.
Saturday I found another sick Neon. It had the same pale white area thru the blue band below the dorsal fin. It was also spending it's time hiding behind some hornwort. When I finally caught and removed him from the tank I found he also had a lumpy apearance in the pale area. Needless to say he has been euthanized. As of today no other fish appear to be sick. I will continue to watch them and if another neon gets sick I will euthanize the remaining three.
Ich treatment on the tank was completed on Friday and four 30% water changes have been done since then to remove the majority of the salt and the temp has been lowered from 84 and reached 78 today. I will be going back to regular weekly maintenance unless the NTD progresses beyond the neons, then a teardown and steralization might be called for. I wll crooss that bridge when the time comes.

 

[Paranoid]

They really have no symptoms other than the pale red stripe, and the one site says it affects the blue stripe

Holly9937, On my neons it has been the blue band that has been turning white. If I understand correctly, the disease moves into the musle tissue and destroys it which results in the loss of color. Since the main muscle area on the neons is along the backbone it would seem that this would be the first area to be affected. So I think you are looking for another problem with yours. How high are your nitrates? Are they really at toxic levels?

 

[Holly9937]

I am hoping that nitrates are the last big lesson I learn. I would say they were around 80 !! I was always told that as long as the rest of your tank conditions were stable and ideal then nitrates were not really an issue, but that is the only un-ideal condition in my tank, so I am hoping that is the culprit and not NTD. My test kit was expired and giving me weird readings, so I'm not sure how long they've been this high :sad . I guess I will be lucky if 2 neons is the only loss! I did a water change yesterday of about 20-25% and just tested again and they seem to be alot better, around 20-40. But its strange the two that looked really bad I put in 2.5g make shift QT tank and they look worse, (still acting like normal though...) been treating them with salt just to try something

 

[Paranoid]

Keep up the water changes (daily) and the nitrates will fall to the safe range (<20). Do you have a weekly/bi-weekly water change routine? I do weekly 30% changes on my 55g and weekly 50% changes on my planted 10g. These are overkill for keeping the nitrates down as both are lightly stocked but I fell better about my water conditions staying healthly with this schedule.

Wayne

BTW: You should also test your tap water for nitrates. Mine are 5-10ppm out of the tap so 10ppm reading in my tank is the best I am ever likely to do!!! I have seen others posting here say they have much higher numbers from the tap so thier baseline nitrates are much higher!!