Neon tetra acting strangely?

[gra72]

Hi,

I wonder if anyone can help? I'm wondering if a black neon tetra is alright or not - it spends most of its time stationary near the base of the tank, shows no interest in food, and takes rapid gulps of water, as if it is having trouble trying to "breathe". Is there anything wrong with it, or am I panicking?

I have to admit that I am new to fish-keeping, and that it is a new tank, so I could do with all the advice I can get!

Cheers,

Graham

 

[Cian McLiam]

Hi Graham and welcome to the forum!
It sounds like your tetra is suffering from ammonia or nitrite poisoning.
How old exactly is the tank and how soon were the fish added?
What kind of filter do you have and how did you remove chlorine from the tap water?
What other fish do you have in the tank?

Just some questions that can help us identify the problem and hopefully help your little tetra.

Ken

 

[gra72]

Hi Ken,

Thanks for replying.

The tank is 6 weeks old now. First in were 2 white cloud mountain minnows, followed by 2 more a fortnight later. Another two weeks later (i.e. 2 days ago) I bought 3 black neon tetras.

All the other fish seem OK, apart from this 1 black neon which is acting strangely.

I treated the water initially, with the "Stress Zyme" supplied with the tank. I did a 20% water change 1 week ago, and treated the top-up water with "Aqua Safe".

The filter is a nylon sponge-type filter, with some activated carbon in it.

Cheers,

Graham

 

[Cian McLiam]

Well I can tell you from my own experience that White Cloud Mountain Minnows are probably the most indestructible fish you can get! Mine survived cycling, white spot massacres and even my dads very first tank and are still here to tell the tale.

Tetras are not so fortunate. I suspect your tank may be having high ammonia and/or nitrite peaks as the cycling process progresses (What is the Cycling process?).

Do you have a test kit which will tell you Nitrite, ammonia and pH? If not, this should be next on your shopping list.
Right now you can help by changing 20% of the water in the tank daily using water that has sat in a container overnight and dechlorinated using Aqua Safe. Im not sure what this product is but look for details on Chlorine and Ammonia on the bottle.

You could also add a small dose of aquarium salt to the water, only about 1/2 Tea spoon per gallon as tetras are sensitive to salt, but it will help them cope with nitirites.

Ken
Ken

 

[gra72]

Thanks Ken,

I'll get the top-up water tonight, ready for a partial change tomorrow. The bottle says it removes chlorine but doesn't say anything about ammonia.

I'll also get a test kit tomorrow and test the water.

Graham

 

[gra72]

pH is 7.6, ammonia is 0.6 mg/l and nitrite is 0.1 mg/l.
I did a partial water change anyway.
Does this help with the diagnosis?

Graham

 

[boatboy]

gra72,

I am somewhat of a newbie to some kinds of fish, but I am learning very quickly. I can definitely tell you that the ammonia level is too high. According to my test kit, 0 is ideal, .25 mg/L is safe, and .5 is stressful. You need to get the ammonia level down. Ammonia reduces a fish's ability to breate or take in oxygen. It would be like us breathing in and out of a paper bag. The fastest way to lower the level (if you don't have any chemicals to help out), would be to do another partial water change of about 20-25%, get all the aeriation going that you can, and don't feed your fish for at least 12-24 hours. The ammonia is typically caused by feeding too much food at 1 time. As the uneaten food breaks down, it turns into ammonia. Also, this is given off by the fish as waste.

Personally, I bought a product at Walmart that does an excellent job at controlling ammonia levels. It is called C-100 and it comes in the form of "pillows" that can be used over and over, and can be cleaned/recharged simply by soaking them in saltwater for a few hours, then rinsing thoroughly. I think you use 1 pillow per 10 gallons, and the best way is to drop them in with your filter so the water will run over them. They have small rocks in them that act as a ammonia magnet, and it will pull it out of the water, over time. These do not work instantly, but you will see a definite improvement in a couple of days.

Another problem, but not immediately life threatening, is your pH level. 7.0 is neutral, lower numbers are acidic, and higher numbers are alkaline. 7.6 would be borderline alkaline. If I recall correctly, tetras prefer a pH level of around 6.8. The trick with lowering pH levels is not to do it all at 1 time. It needs to be a slow process to keep from throwing the fish into shock. I would get some pH Decreaser and add it to the water each day for a couple of days while monitoring the levels first. You should be able to lower the pH down to around 7.0 in 2-3 days without stressing out the fish.

Something else you may want to consider getting is a complete water test kit. This will also allow you to test Total Hardness (GH), and Total Alkalinity (KH) of the water. I just got one of these kits and found that my water is very hard. Unlike most people, I am on a well and do not have to worry about chlorine. My problem is that the water has a limestone base, and this causes my water to be hard, and leave a powdery precipitate (like water scale) over time on my hood. Here is a link to a thread explaining more about water and pH levels. It is well worth the read.

Good luck.

 

[bogusmove]

I'm no expert, but it seems possible to me that your tank might still cycling. Cycling will have started when you added your first fishes... then you are adding more fish... raising ammonia faster than the bacteria can colonize to convert it to nitrite. With constantly elevated ammonia levels the bacteria which then converts nitrite to nitrate would be inhibited from growing, thus preventing your tank from finishing cycling.

 

[snowyangel]

I found with my black neon tetras, they were my warning signs since they can be quite sensitive. I knew i had a nitrite problem when i noticed them and also other fish "flicking" off objects. The neons were always at the top near the filter, wanting more oxygen. Luckily after almost a month of daily water changes, reducing feeding, and adding cultured gravel, i was able to bring the nitrite level down(i noticed my black neons were back at the bottom, happily eating and swimming like normal.
I find my black neons are the most shyest of my 3 small tetras(i also have glowlights and neons). They often hide by the plants together and aren't as active when it comes to feeding like my neons, but they aren't gasping like you said ur were. Definately get a test kit becuase ammonia poisoning is strong and kills fast. Nitrite is the second strongest and wont suffocate them as fast, but will eventually kill them too. So if u can get a kit, and if there is a problem i advise to:
-increase aeration(either by adding an air stone or dropping the water level in your tank a couple inches)
- get some cultured gravel from another tank(this will add beneficial bacteria into yours)
- reduce feedings to reduce waste buildup that would make more ammonia
- and if you dont have sensitve fish(please research your fish), add aquarium salt because fish will take in the salt rather then the ammonia or nitrite, therefor adding some protectiong aggainst poisoning.

This plan worked for me, but only do it if you know what your dealing with
Good luck with the neons!

 

[gra72]

Thanks to everyone for their replies, but I think I'm more confused now than I was before!

I did a partial water change yesterday, and one today.

For what it's worth, today's readings are:
ammonia 0.6 mg/l, nitrite 0.3 mg/l - with one tester but nitrite is between 1 & 5 mg/l with another tester. Nitrate is 100 mg/l, GH is 6 to 7 deg, KH is 15 deg and pH is 7.6 to 8.0

And just for good measure I tested my tapwater:
nitrate 50 to 100 mg/l, nitrite 1 mg/l, GH is 6 to 7 deg, KH is 15 to 20 deg and pH is 7.6.

So my questions now are:
1) do I need to add aquarium salt or not? and if so, will it harm the fish?
2) do I still need to change the water daily? my ammonia test kit says 0.6 is OK, but there seems to be disagreement on this (see above post)
3) why different readings between the test kits for nitrite? I will admit that it is hard to see any colour change in one of them (a liquid reagent test), so that is why I said 0.3 mg/l (but the litmus-paper type tester says 5 mg/l)
4) what do all these readings actually mean?

Thanks in advance for your help,

Gra