Just Lost a Neon

[ChrisP]

Well I just bought 6 neon tetras 2 days ago, I woke up this mornign to find one lying at the bottom with a big hole in him witch could of been the fact that one of my honey gouramis was tucking into him. My tank has been up and running about 7 months or so now, I do a regular 25% weekly water change, all the other fish look fine. The rest of the neons look fine aswell as did the one that died yesterday, there were no signs of ill health that I could see he just died out of the blue!

Any help much appreciated on this one please!

 

[ed946]

I woke up this mornign to find one lying at the bottom with a big hole in him witch could of been the fact that one of my honey gouramis was tucking into him.

Maybe the Gourami murdered him...that would at least explain why he died out of tue blue.

Ed

 

[platypus]

Sorry to hear you lost him . Here are a few questions:

1. Do you know what your water condition is like? Ammonia, nitrites, nitrates etc?

2. What is the temperature like inside your tank?

3. Are you sure the other fish are all OK, one sign that's easy to miss is that they could look as though they're 'breathing' heavily. Keep an eye on them to see if they show signs of this, or start losing appetite, or hanging near the surface of the water, or losing colour.

4. How big is your tank and what other fish do you have in it?

5. Has anything else changed in your tank recently - have you cleaned out a filter, or cleaned your gravel really thoroughly, or anything like that?

I reckon the hole is probably due to your gourami tucking in, like you suspect. I have had whole neons being eaten in a matter of hours before

 

[ChrisP]

1. Amonia 0 Nitrite 0 I need to get another Ph and nitrate test kits they ran out

2. Temperature is 26c

3. All the other fish seem fine there breathing normally and swimming about all over, i fed them last nite and they all looked to be feeding just fine, as for loss of color they all look to be the same, the neons are still the same as when i got them and they dont look abnormal to me.

4. My tank is 90litres, it has 3 honey gouramis, 3 golden barbs, 2 yoyo loaches and the 5 remaining neons.

5. I havent cleaned the filter recently and when i do i clean it in old tank water when i do the water change, i vac the sand one or twice a week as i always have done.

 

[platypus]

Well doesn't sound like you're doing anything wrong to me to be honest!

Sometimes fish just don't adjust well to new tanks - perhaps the pH in your tank is very different from the pH at your lfs and this stressed him out. Perhaps he was just a bit of a weakling and there was nothing you could do. I don't really know what to suggest other than keep a really close eye on your other neons. I take it you don't have a quarantine tank you could put them in for a week or so just to check they're not diseased?

Other than that I'm stumped

 

[ChrisP]

No unfortunatly I dont have another tank, I guess I just have to wait and hope I dont loose anymore I guess.

Thanks for the help and the speedy reply anyway, it is much appreciated!

 

[platypus]

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[Sondan]

Zaphan,
Neons are sometimes fragile and you have to expect some losses from just the stress of moving. I know we hate to loose any fish but if you only loose one I personally think you are doing pretty good.
Signed,
Sondan

 

[lgreenmk]

I think that I have been lucky, my LFS told me that neons are particular about their water and tough to keep. The only fish that have been with me the whole time are the neons, a pleco (now in my mom's 29 gallon tank), and my betta. I lost three guppies (all to the pleco beating them up I think) and a swordtail. All six original neons are fine though.

 

[FanOFish]

Zaphan, do you have any other fish in the tank? Other than the gouramis and tetras I mean?

I have both tetras and gouramis and the gouramis don't bother the tetras at all and I've never seen any real problems between tetras.

I could have died for some reason and been pecked at after it was already dead

 

[ChrisP]

FanOFish - NO I dotn have any other fish, other than those I mentioned im my earlier post, I havent lost any more fish since so it would seem that it was just that one fish that was weak or stressed with the move maybe.

All seems to be going well again now