White Patch Neon Tetra

Annemarie · Aug 14, 2019

Hello! So as of a few days ago my largest fish seemed to develop a white patch overnight on his fin. It looks like it’s a little fuzzy? But I’m not sure. I have aquarium salt I could use, but I have a shrimp (ghost) and dont know if he would be okay in salted water. I know how to use aquarium salt so that’s not the issue. It seems to have spread a little but I wasn’t sure how to proceed.

Should I use the salt? The parameters are all good (0 ammonia, nitrite, and 5 nitrate), the nerite snails seem fine, the shrimp is okay, and the other néons seem good. It’s just that one. He’s eating and is plenty big, schools with the others, doesn’t hover in one spot near the surface or anything like that really. I don’t want to go crazy and say it’s neon tetra disease or Columnaris or whatever. I think it’s just a fungus.

If I shouldn’t use the salt, can I use something like general cure instead? I don’t have any local fish stores nearby that carry fancy meds and I don’t think anything I order online would arrive quick enough. Petsmart and petco are my only options for meds.

FishGuest5123 · Aug 14, 2019

Can we possibly get a pic of the fish? I wouldn’t use the salt with the shrimp.

Annemarie · Aug 14, 2019

These are the best I could get! I think it’s kind of eating away at him too (poor fish)

FishGuest5123 · Aug 14, 2019

Thanks for the pics. I’ll be quite honest with you. I had a couple of neons that looked just the same. I tried all kinds of meds, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and finally antibiotics. Nothing helped. I suspected it was Neon Tetra Disease but other members did not feel it was. I never knew what it was. I finally just keep them comfortable in a tank of their own until necrosis set in and started eating at them. At that point, I euthanized them with Clove oil. I truly hope someone comes on with better information or suggestions but that was my experience. Good luck.

Annemarie · Aug 14, 2019

Maybe it is Columnaris? I just figured if he had it he would react weird but he seems to be fine aside from the thing he has

Annemarie · Aug 14, 2019

Thank you! When you experienced it did it spread to any other fish? The rest look fine (I hope they stay that way) and I would hate to lose them. I really hope this isn’t my fault either. I kept everything clean and made sure the cycle was finished. I don’t know what I possibly could’ve done to prevent this. Large(ish) weekly water changes, proper amount for feeding, everything I did should’ve kept them healthy. Sad times here.

FishGuest5123 · Aug 14, 2019

It honestly doesn’t look like Columnaris to me. Let’s see what others think.

FishGuest5123 · Aug 14, 2019

Annemarie said:
Thank you! When you experienced it did it spread to any other fish? The rest look fine (I hope they stay that way) and I would hate to lose them. I really hope this isn’t my fault either. I kept everything clean and made sure the cycle was finished. I don’t know what I possibly could’ve done to prevent this. Large(ish) weekly water changes, proper amount for feeding, everything I did should’ve kept them healthy. Sad times here.

I don’t think you’ve done anything wrong. Neon Tetras are so overbred these days that there is just very poor stock. I moved my sick Tetras into a quarantine tank so no others got it. They lived another couple of months in there before they declined further.

Colin_T · Aug 14, 2019

It's either fungus or a protozoan infection. Use a broad spectrum fish medication that treats fungus, bacteria and protozoan infections and see how it goes.

Before treating the tank, work out the volume of water in the tank and do the following things:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.
When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "How To Tips" at the top of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

FishGuest5123 · Aug 14, 2019

Colin_T said:
It's either fungus or a protozoan infection. Use a broad spectrum fish medication that treats fungus, bacteria and protozoan infections and see how it goes.

Before treating the tank, work out the volume of water in the tank and do the following things:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.
When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "How To Tips" at the top of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Do what Colin says. He’s very knowledgeable and it’s worth a try. Good luck and please keep us posted.

Annemarie · Aug 14, 2019

Okay! Is there any specific kind of medication you would suggest? All of the medications I seem to find online are pimafix, melafix, or erythromycin. As long as it’s safe for my shrimp, healthy fish, and snails I’ll try anything really. Thank you so much for helping!

Colin_T · Aug 14, 2019

Pimafix, Melafix and Erythromycin won't do anything.

Erythromycin is an anti-biotic that should only be used on known bacterial infections that have not responded to normal fish medications. Improper use or mis-use of anti-biotics can cause drug resistant bacteria that can kill people, animals, birds, fish and reptiles.

Look for something that contains Malachite Green and Acriflavine.
"API Fungus Cure" should work if you can get that but it depends on which country you live in. Different countries have different brands.

Annemarie · Aug 19, 2019

Okay so for those of you paying attention to this still: I ordered some meds last week because none of my stores carried anything that would help and they are set to arrive tomorrow. However, my neon tetra (the sick one) just died and while I am sad, my focus is now on the other fish. Should I still use the meds just in case any other fish have the fungus and I just haven’t noticed yet? Maybe try half doses

I don’t know. I just want to make sure none of the other fish suffer the same fate as this one

Annemarie · Aug 19, 2019

Here are some pictures of him right before death.

FishGuest5123 · Aug 19, 2019

I would just watch them closely. Only my Tetras were affected.

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