Losing fish

[Proterra]

Have lost 6 neons - found 2 in the filter - 2 when I moved ornaments and 2 have disappeared forever - have taken tank apart and they are nowhere to be seen. Have two patys in the tank that take nothing to do with each other and 3 guppies that mind their own business.

Before one of the neons died it seemed to have a damaged front fin.

Water paramaters are all fine.

I want to add a few more platys as I know its not right to keep them in such few numbers but until I know whats wrong with these fish Im scared to add anything else.

I have 4 neons left and 3 stick together one does its own thing.

 

[fishwatcher]

What are your exact water stats? Neons are weaker fish, and they tend to show problems before other fish do. What size is the tank, and how long have you had it running? How long have the fish been in it?
Sorry to bombard you with questions, but these are things we all will need to know to help you.

 

[Proterra]

Hi,

The tank is 30 gallons. It was cycled first and now the fish have been in it for 2 weeks.

Ammonia is 0, Nitrite is 0 and Nitrate is about 10. Dont have PH tester yet.

I did add all the fish at once which on reflection I guess was wrong thing to do? I checked the water daily for changes and everything seemed fine - no spikes in water stats etc.

Sorry. I meant the ammonia etc didnt go up - just an increase in nitrates prior to water changes but nothing over 20 . Ammonia and Nitrites still 0

 

[IMCL85]

is the tank live planted? or just plain with plastic plants?

 

[Proterra]

It has a mix of live and plastic. Mostly plastic though

 

[WILDER]

Did you sterlise the plants, any heavy laboured breathing, or flicking and rubbing on objects, are gills red and inflamed,

 

[WILDER]

Sometimes when there is a loner neon tetra can sometimes mean there is a problem, have they lost there colour in the red stripe.

 

[Boxcar Muzzdogg]

It is also possible that there is a mean tempered platy that has picked on the fish and stressed them. Platys are generally peaceful but there can occasionaly be one that is mean tempered and becomes a problems to other fish in a community tank. I would try to observe the tank from a space where the platys will not detect your presence and watch for sigins of fighting. It is also possible that the neons were weak to begin with and after a change of habitat they became stressed and died as neons are pretty fragile. Also, do you have a thermometer and heater in your tank. Is the heat well regulated or have there been any fluctuations in temperature. Temp. fluctuations can stress fish very easily, especially neons.

 

[Proterra]

Hi,

I didnt do anything to the plants as I moved them and the filter media etc from another seemingly healthy tank over to this one when I started it up and hoped that would be ok. Have been watching the fish this morning - there are no signs of any inflamed gills or any flicking or rubbing. The two platys I have - one is white one is orange. They tend to hide where I cant see them and only really come out for food although sometimes the orange one tries to swim with the guppies. Apart from that the two of them totally ignore each other. The four neons that I have left - three tend to stick together and one likes to do its own thing and joins them when it feels like it. The red and blue colouring on the neons is still vivid and hasnt faded at all.

I have a thermometer and heater and temperature seems to stay at 25 degrees.

When I first put my fish into the tank I did have a black platy too but that was doing summersaults and keeled over within minutes of being put in the water. Would this have been down to the stress of moving or more likely something in the water.

Sorry for so many questions etc but as a newbie and losing so many fish in such a short space of time I feel I really need the input of experienced people so I dont make things worse than I have to.

Thanks.

 

[IMCL85]

It must be stress then fish who like to be in school offen is going to get stressed easily with small number. Like my tetra neon/cardinal when my first neon arrive they r in school of 10 and after I added 9 cardinal when cardinal join neon they seems alot more less stress then my first neon arrive. And I lost 2 x neon 1 suck in to the filter and 1 die no reason. But now they r very healthy and have grown alot. And now my clown loach I add is under stress so I have to make more cave and add chemical to help them get out of stress. Else they be pretty easy under parasite or disease attack.

 

[trace]

i did a post about losin a neon was weird one min it was there then it was gone