Neon Tetra - Sick?

Hi, we're new to fishkeeping but faithfully cycled our 120-litre freshwater tropical tank over several weeks (ammonia peak, nitrite peak, increasing nitrates - can provide some numbers if that helps). Have read and used a lot of information from this site, but was hoping that the first post would be to introduce myself rather than to ask for help.

Did a large water change and 4 days ago introduced 8 Neon Tetras to the tank as most folks seem to recommend - lights off, a period of acclimatization in the bag and then net into the tank. No chemicals added other than some plant micronutrients and water conditioner ('Fresh Start'). The fish all looked healthy and happy when bought.

They fed well the next day, but today we're concerned about one fish that has a patch of white-ish discolouration in a band from top to bottom about halfway down their body. Still eating, but maybe not quite as active or as 'happy' as the rest.

STATS (tested yesterday and today):
Tank size: 120cm x 40cm x 30cm
Water temperature: 24oC
pH: 7.6
GH: 250
KH: 180
Ammonia: 0.1 (we always get this, even from the tap water, never 0 - using Interpet tablet tests)
Nitrite: 0.0
Nitrate: 25 (likewise, always present in the tap water)

Will try to attach a picture of the tank, and the fish we're worried about.

What do you guys think... sick? Pregnant? (We've had difficulty distinguishing the males from females!) We're worried about Neon Tetra disease, would it be too early for this?

Thanks so much in anticipation of experience and advice!

Hi, neon tetras should only really be added to a mature tank (6months +) you should have 0ppm ammonia in the tank for it to be safe for fish. i dont have any experience with neon tetra disease but it leads to colour loss.
very nice tank BTW
Hope this helps
Lloyd

Welcome to TFF,
Sorry to hear about your fish. Hopefully Wilder will be along shortly to help you out. I would love to advise but there are more experienced members who will ask you the right questions.

Skins.

electropunk06 said:

Hi, neon tetras should only really be added to a mature tank (6months +) you should have 0ppm ammonia in the tank for it to be safe for fish. i dont have any experience with neon tetra disease but it leads to colour loss.
very nice tank BTW

Click to expand...

Thanks for the help Lloyd.

I think we may be stuck with the ammonia level, as our tap water actually contains up to 0.16ppm of ammonium so I'm not sure a water change will actually lower this without using a product. Someone with a better understanding of chemistry than me might know that answer! It seems odd, though - our filter processed 3.0ppm to 0.1ppm in 48 hours so why a small amount might still hang around I'm not sure.

We went to our LFS with the fact that Neons do better in a more established tank; but they advised us that out of our desired fish (corys, guppies and neons) the neons were the best choice to start with. Bad advice?

Cheers for the compliment on the tank!

Thanks also to Skins - our other 7 Neons seem healthy so far and we've enjoyed having them around.

It could just be your test kit, an api liquid master test kit is the recommended one on here. because the ammonia should come down if the bacteria are there.
LFS tend to give bad advice they are more interested in money than fish sadly. this forum is very is useful for any advice with lots of help out there.
What other fish are you thinking of adding?
Wilder will (probably) be able to help you with the illness.
Lloyd

Does the white patch go along the dorsal fin and down the sides of the fish to form a saddle shape.
Does the colour look bleached out, fluffy like cotton wool, or just a greyish white film.

WILDER said:

Does the white patch go along the dorsal fin and down the sides of the fish to form a saddle shape.
Does the colour look bleached out, fluffy like cotton wool, or just a greyish white film.

Click to expand...

Wilder - thanks for the help. It is not like a saddle. The white patch is more on its belly, though there is a strip which goes up a bit into the blue line. The colour is bleached out white - not fluffy like cotton wool. Apologies that the picture isn't better, it's the best we could get!

The other fish do not yet seem affected though we will check on them in a few hours.


Lloyd - thanks for the advice re the liquid test, will look that one up.

For our tank, we wanted to get Guppies (probably Endlers), Corydora (sterba or peppered) and the Neon Tetra. Our LFS seemed to think that mix was okay - we actually went in intending to start on Guppies and they advised us to start with Tetra. Should we have begun with Guppies?

Appreciate the help being given.

Ok.

These are ntd signs. So need to keep a look out.

Bleached out red stripe area. Small bleached out blotches on red stripe area. Milky substance on red stripe area.
Blue area will turn a golden yellow colour.
Fish will leave shoal.
Fish will become restless.
Lumps on belly that can go to a point.
Black lining around the red tail area. Black colouration on the fish.
Swimming in an odd manor.
Bent spine sometimes.
Weightloss.
Later states dropsy, popeye.

Does the fish flick and rub, dart, erratic swimming, laboured breathing.
Is there any excess slime or mucas on the white area, or on the whole body.
Get a magifying glass just to make sure there not tiny white spots that have joined up.

White patches can be ph shock, parasites, fungal, bacterial, columnaris, toxins.

Bleaching beneath the skin can also be columnaris, false ntd.

Scroll down to ntd.
http/badmanstropicalfish.com/fish_palace/tropicalfish_disease_identification.html

WILDER said:

Ok.

These are ntd signs. So need to keep a look out.

Click to expand...

Hmm - actually this is looking less like NTD from your description. Have been trying without success to get a better picture than the one above (they're just too little and fast for my camera) - but the discolouration does not affect the red stripe, and there are no 'lumps'.

The patch of white discolouration is a little bit raised, but doesn't obviously look like a fungus (yet) from the pictures you directed us to.

It is shoaling with its buddies, and we'll see if it will eat anything today.

We'll also do some more water tests and another water change tonight as this seems like good practise.

WILDER said:

Does the fish flick and rub, dart, erratic swimming, laboured breathing.
Is there any excess slime or mucas on the white area, or on the whole body.
Get a magifying glass just to make sure there not tiny white spots that have joined up.

Click to expand...

Breathing is a little fast and swimming is more effort, but there is not any rubbing / scratching / flicking that I've observed. And can't see any excess slime.

Another fish store recommended some Melafix (Tea Tree Oil) as a treatment - I'm aware that this is antibacterial rather than antibiotic, but I guess there is a suggestion that it might be some prophylaxis for the other fish.

Any views?

Thanks again for all your help so far.

Melafix is only good on cuts and wounds.

All you can do is isolate and try a bacterial med if the neon not showing parasite signs.
Also keep an eye on ntd symtoms.

WILDER said:

Melafix is only good on cuts and wounds.

All you can do is isolate and try a bacterial med if the neon not showing parasite signs.
Also keep an eye on ntd symtoms.

Click to expand...

Thanks for all the advice Wilder. Unfortunately we lost the sick Neon yesterday.

The others look well so far, but we will keep a very close eye, especially for NTD symptoms.

We appreciate all the advice and help.

Thanks for the update.

Sorry for your loss.
R.I.P.