Soupysteve's 40gallon breeder journal

Ok, so I was able to catch this one as it died... a buddy and I noticed him breathing quickly in one spot. We looked closer and noticed his back was much darker than regular - and his left eye was bulged...

bulging eye.jpg
 
I'll have a planted tank with a Ram as the focus of the tank, at this rate!

One more dead this morning. Like the others, no fins missing or in bad shape, no discoloration, no pop-eye like the one pictured above. This was another of the larger ones.
Will do the water parameter check I promised yesterday later today after lunch.
Any suggestions from those who successfully keep neons?
 
Post your water test parameters. early tests from days ago will not tell us anything with what is happening in the tank today.

neons can be delicate fish they tend to have adverse reactions to ammonia and nitrites and even in some cases nitrates.


I have had issues with neons in the last year..to the point I quit getting them.
this is in well established tanks with 50% water changes at least weekly.
 
Tested again as promised...

Nitrite = 0ppm
Nitrate = <5ppm
Ammonia = <.25ppm (MUCH closer to 0ppm)
Temp = 75f at lowest 78f at highest

Found two more dead since my last post (4 hours ago)...

Again, if I can stress it, all other fish (5 otos, 2 cory cats, rubber-nosed pleco, and ram all seem to be doing great).
 
I've never had luck with neons, cardinals seem to be alittle hardier. Keep that temp stable around 80 or so. Prolly just a bad batch of neons...thats all I have ever gotten. Good Luck
 
Hmmm neons are tough. I've ALWAYS had a hard time keeping them alive, now I have cardinal tetras and they do wonderfully! They're a little larger and hardier with better coloring. If your params are fine I really don't have any other explanation than something is stalking them out which is very possible. Putting in more plants may give them more coverage but... my suggestion would be this, you have lots of room left in your tank for additions, so I'd scratch the neons and work with what you already have in there. I personally would up the oto's to more than 6 (they have awesome personality in schools), up cories to over 6 as well for the same reason, leave the bn as the only one because unless you get enough algae he might starve, depending on the kind of ram I'd try to add one or two more. If it's a male try to add two females (if you can get them). If you want to try tetras again go with a hardier group like the cardinals and again 6+ for a happy healthy school :). I think you might even be able to up the numbers a bit and have a really nice community tank with lots of fun activity to watch. I'd also probably add some more plants, but my preference is for heavily planted community tanks :). Ohhhh idea! Snails love planted tanks too and they're fun to watch and colorful!
 
LJNuke - I had heard the cardinals were LESS hardy? Maybe I should go that route - i can deal with their higher price if they live! I'll turn my thermostat on my unit up a tad if warmer temps are ideal.

Small-fish - When they're alive, my neons are doing well enough that they just dart on by the intake of my filter, so I don't think the issue is related to water movement. I'll bump the thermostat up a bit if a higher temp is better.

DavidFBT - Prime? Not sure what it even is! My source water is ran through a kent maxxima 24gpd 4 stage ro/di unit into a 55gal holding drum then into my tanks.
 
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