Sick Neon Tetra!

Help! I'm having trouble identifying a disease in one of my neon tetras. I thought it might be neon tetra disease but he is acting normally, schooling with the rest and eating. The water parameters are good and the same group of fish (tetras and some fancy guppies) have been in the tank for about 9 months now (no new additions). His scales started appearing "rough" a few weeks ago and I've now isolated him in a quarantine tank with saline. It looks like its progressing slowly but his behaviour is still normal. Any suggestions?

Looks like false neon tetra disease, it’s called columnaris it’s called false neon tetra disease due to the symptoms being very similar people thing it is NTD. Just treat for Columnaris and they will be just fine

Thanks so much! I'll try that!

Columnaris is extremely contagious and can wipe out an entire tank. If no ne else has come down with it, I doubt it’s Columnaris. Tetras don’t handle salt very well at all. I would change the water out and try a med that treats bacterial infections. @Colin_T, what do you think?

It's unikely to be Columnaris because as Deanasue said, it hasn't spread to any other fish over a couple of weeks.

The fish appears to have a microsporidian infection in the muscle tissue (cream/ grey colour in the muscle in the body) and possible an external protozoan infection. The external infection could also be an extension of the internal infection.

I would try salt and if no improvement after a 3 or 4 days, maybe try a broad spectrum fish medication. However, it might be cheaper to euthanise and then replace the fish, rather than adding chemicals to the tank.

Use 2 heaped tablespoons of rock salt for every 20 litres of tank water. Keep the salt in there for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks. If you do water changes while using salt, add salt to the new water before adding it to the tank so the salinity (salt level) in the tank remains stable.

Hi I have a neon tetra school. I noticed one that looked a bit pale and curved. (I only had it for a year while it was still growing). I do not know what disease it is. I don’t know what to cure it with. It recently started to not eat as well. It has a white patch on its side. Here is a picture, a couple months ago and now.

It depends on how long the fish has been like that.
If it went like that over a 24-48 hour period, then it's a bacterial infection.
If it went like that over a couple of weeks, then it's a microsporidian infection.

Add 2 heaped tablespoons of rock salt for every 20 litres of water. Keep salt in the tank for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks. If you do water changes while using salt, add salt to the new water before adding it to the tank so the salinity (salt level) in the tank remains stable.