6/7 Neons Died ; ( Why Did They ?

[madjoker14]

Hi everyone! i bought 7 baby (very tiny) neons on friday and today i found 6 dead in my 20 gallon tank ; (
Right away i did a water test and these are my results...btw its a cycled tank.

PH--------6.9
Ammonia---0 ppm
Nitrite---0 ppm
Nitrate---40-80 ppm (couldnt tell the difference in the card)

this is what i think went wrong...
1) the water was bad but the test show it as good and clean water
2) i have a chines algae eater, maybe he attacked the babys n killed 6/7 ?
3) the baby neons could adapt ?

i also have in the same tank that 1 chines algae eater and also 4 other terta's, i think they are called dyno or dimos, i forgot the name, but they have about 8 months living in the same tank.

but any help would be great as i would like to know what they died and how i can prevent them from dieing ; (
thank u in advance ; )

 

[Gvilleguy]

Nitrates are a bit high, but might not kill fish. Can you describe your steps for getting the tetras into the tank?

 

[Skins]

Hi everyone! i bought 7 baby (very tiny) neons on friday and today i found 6 dead in my 20 gallon tank ; (
Right away i did a water test and these are my results...btw its a cycled tank.

PH--------6.9
Ammonia---0 ppm
Nitrite---0 ppm
Nitrate---40-80 ppm (couldnt tell the difference in the card)

this is what i think went wrong...
1) the water was bad but the test show it as good and clean water
2) i have a chines algae eater, maybe he attacked the babys n killed 6/7 ?
3) the baby neons could adapt ?

i also have in the same tank that 1 chines algae eater and also 4 other terta's, i think they are called dyno or dimos, i forgot the name, but they have about 8 months living in the same tank.

but any help would be great as i would like to know what they died and how i can prevent them from dieing ; (
thank u in advance ; )

Sorry to hear about your losses,
I have read quite a few threads on the forum regarding neon deaths and there does seem to be a strong belief that the species is no longer as hardy as they used to be. This is based on the mass breading that has weakened them. Transportation, aclimatising and being introduced in a tank with a filter that is less than 6 months mature neons tend to struggle with.

Keith.

 

[elisew]

The biggest problem related to neons seems to be their sensitivity to a tank that hasn't cycled and matured. How long has your tank been fully cycled for?

The nitrates are a bit high, a good water change would help to reduce them

 

[madjoker14]

thanks everyone for the input

usually what i do when i buy any fish or in this case the neons was the following, i bought them from the store, and got home about 10-20 min after i bought them, then opened the bag and allowed them gently swim out into the tank...

as for the tank, i use to have a 10g tank with 2x 10g tank filters, i then bought a 20 gallon and tranfered everything from the 10g into the 20g, i let it all sit there for about a weeks and re introduced the fishs that i had and a month later i bought the neons that have died ; (

did i do something wrong or maybe could still do something ?

from the water test it looks as if its cycled as the filters are each 2 years old and so is the grave.

ohhhhhh one thing i didnt mention, i introduced some new rocks that i brought back from the dominican republic.... could that have an impacted on there survivability ?

 

[Gvilleguy]

thanks everyone for the input

usually what i do when i buy any fish or in this case the neons was the following, i bought them from the store, and got home about 10-20 min after i bought them, then opened the bag and allowed them gently swim out into the tank...

I think your method for getting them in the tank might be the problem. The shock of putting a fish directly from one environment into another (changing temp and pH, nitrates, etc.) can kill them. So most forum members recommend a somewhat slow acclimation process to allow the fish to adjust before they go into the new tank.

The following is the process I use for fish that I put in my tank. And a big thing to not do is pour the water from the bag into your tank. If the fish store tank water has any diseases, then you are transferring those diseases into your own tank. What you want to do is gently net the fish from the fish store bag into your tank. Please let me know if you have any questions after you read this. Sorry you had trouble!

1. I first floated the bags, unopened, for 30 minutes to match up temperatures between my tank and the bag water.

2. I then cut open the bags and attached them to the tank rim using chip clips.

3. Then I slowly added tank water to the bags:

1. +1/4 cup water, wait 15 minutes
2. +1/4 cup water, wait 15 minutes
3. +1/3 cup water, wait 10 minutes
4. +1/3 cup water, wait 10 minutes

4. And then I netted them into the tank!

 

[redbug]

1. I first floated the bags, unopened, for 30 minutes to match up temperatures between my tank and the bag water.

2. I then cut open the bags and attached them to the tank rim using chip clips.

3. Then I slowly added tank water to the bags:

1. +1/4 cup water, wait 15 minutes
2. +1/4 cup water, wait 15 minutes
3. +1/3 cup water, wait 10 minutes
4. +1/3 cup water, wait 10 minutes

4. And then I netted them into the tank!

This is a good idea when adding fish.
I also use a system similar to this.
What type of rock did you add? did you clean and boi; it before adding it to the take/

 

[sara213]

1. I first floated the bags, unopened, for 30 minutes to match up temperatures between my tank and the bag water.

2. I then cut open the bags and attached them to the tank rim using chip clips.

3. Then I slowly added tank water to the bags:

1. +1/4 cup water, wait 15 minutes
2. +1/4 cup water, wait 15 minutes
3. +1/3 cup water, wait 10 minutes
4. +1/3 cup water, wait 10 minutes

4. And then I netted them into the tank!

This is a good idea when adding fish.
I also use a system similar to this.
What type of rock did you add? did you clean and boi; it before adding it to the take/

I like that method too...I never thought of doing it that way. I always just clipped the bag up on the side of the tank then let it sit for a good 20 mintues then net the fish from the bag into the tank.

op: sorry about your loss...i understand how you feel though...

 

[symon_say]

I think that drip acclimation would be the best method to introduce neons. Cause i have rear a lot about their sensibility.

 

[madjoker14]

thanks everyone for the input

usually what i do when i buy any fish or in this case the neons was the following, i bought them from the store, and got home about 10-20 min after i bought them, then opened the bag and allowed them gently swim out into the tank...

I think your method for getting them in the tank might be the problem. The shock of putting a fish directly from one environment into another (changing temp and pH, nitrates, etc.) can kill them. So most forum members recommend a somewhat slow acclimation process to allow the fish to adjust before they go into the new tank.

The following is the process I use for fish that I put in my tank. And a big thing to not do is pour the water from the bag into your tank. If the fish store tank water has any diseases, then you are transferring those diseases into your own tank. What you want to do is gently net the fish from the fish store bag into your tank. Please let me know if you have any questions after you read this. Sorry you had trouble!

1. I first floated the bags, unopened, for 30 minutes to match up temperatures between my tank and the bag water.

2. I then cut open the bags and attached them to the tank rim using chip clips.

3. Then I slowly added tank water to the bags:

1. +1/4 cup water, wait 15 minutes
2. +1/4 cup water, wait 15 minutes
3. +1/3 cup water, wait 10 minutes
4. +1/3 cup water, wait 10 minutes

4. And then I netted them into the tank!

wow thank for the input, this sounds great, and yea i can deff the reasons why the way that i normally introduce my fishs is the wrong way ; ( but i will start doing it this way from now on ; )

as for the rocks... its really of a unknown... i found a huge rock and i cracked it open with a hammer to get sort of a design in the rocks as they broke, i can take pictures of the rocks of that would help but its very bright and it looks as if it has a lot of minerals in the rock, its been in the tank now for about 3 months and no change has occurred to the already established fishs there...

hope i can keep the rocks lol

 

[Sharpy14]

Yeah deffo the wrong entry into the tank. I have got 12 neons in a cycling tank and have been for 2 1/2 weeks now and still all here. Hope for the best

 

[madjoker14]

Thanks everyone!! i bought 2 neons as my lfs said they will give me 2 free (even thought i think it was my fault) so i will try the slow introduction today ; )

 

[madjoker14]

okay so i got a chance to buy 4 more neons on my way home. I did a water change the night b4 and the Nitrate read 40ppm so i was good to go
-I put the bag to warm up.
-I added half a cup of water into the bag every 30 min to let the neons adapt.
-After about 3 hours or so i scoped the neons up and allowed them to roam into the tank
-The next day ALL FOUR DIED! sept for the 1 or 7 that had previously survived ;(

I dont know what to do....should i just buy the neons from another fish store? is it my tank? what else could i look into that might be causing these little guys to keep dieing ;(

 

[kirsty2236]

okay so i got a chance to buy 4 more neons on my way home. I did a water change the night b4 and the Nitrate read 40ppm so i was good to go
-I put the bag to warm up.
-I added half a cup of water into the bag every 30 min to let the neons adapt.
-After about 3 hours or so i scoped the neons up and allowed them to roam into the tank
-The next day ALL FOUR DIED! sept for the 1 or 7 that had previously survived ;(

I dont know what to do....should i just buy the neons from another fish store? is it my tank? what else could i look into that might be causing these little guys to keep dieing ;(

I had 3 chinese algea eaters in my tank, I bought them young but as soon as they matured they killed 3 fish over a weekend including a cardinal tetra (similar size to the neons) then started on my bigger fish. They went back to the shop swiftly an I haven't had any problems since. I would watch the CAE closely and see if they are after any of your fish. I have since read they eat the mucus membrane that protects the fish but are also terrotorial, they are often sold as good community fish which is a load of rubbish.

Sorry about your poor neons

 

[anon02]

I would take the rock out and do several partial water changes over a few days

The rock could be leaching toxins or metals into the tank especially if your tank water is acidic (less than 7.0 pH)