Neon Tetra Question

[Alaine]

Hi there,

I have just bought 2 guppies and 12 neon tetras as starter fish. All fish are healthy and doing well apart from one neon. He/she tends to swim at the opposite side of the tank to the other neons, and his tail/belly is no-where near as red and vibrant as the others. I've heard that fish lose some of their colour when they are under stress, but I'm not sure how to help this wee one back to health.

Any suggestions would be great.

Thanks,

Alaine

 

[AmberC]

What size tank is it? Did you buy all those fish at once and add them all to the tank?

 

[Alaine]

What size tank is it? Did you buy all those fish at once and add them all to the tank?

I have a 37g (UK) tank. I was advised to by that amount as starter fish for that size tank. There is more than enough room for them and they all seem very happy apart from that one.

 

[WILDER]

What are your water stats in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,and ph, neons and guppys are very sensitive to water quality, so please post tests, as you also could be dealing with ntd.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Unfortunately you were badly advised in your choice of starter fish; guppies are considered too sensitive these days to start up a tank, and neons are so sensitive they are only recommended for a tank that has been up and running for 6 months. Danios or platys would have been better.
The first thing you have to do is to buy a test kit that tests for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates (liquid test kit is best). Post us the stats. Basically, any reading of ammonia or nitrites over 0.5 ppm is toxic and needs to be diluted with a partial water change (using dechlorinated water). You may need to do these water changes as often as once a day at first, depending on your readings (you should test every day for the first few weeks). Eventually when the tank has settled down you can go down to changing the water once a week as routine maintenance.
This - poisoning from ammonia/nitrites is the most likely cause of your tetra's problems. However, as Wilder mentioned, it is also possible that it has brought some disease with it, such as NTD (neon tetra disease). So you need to eliminate the water poisoning first, and if this proves not to be the reason, start looking for other causes. Keep an eye on the tetra for possible symptoms. And post us the water stats.

 

[Alaine]

ok, stats are as follows

ph = 6.8

NO2 = 0
NO3 = 0

The neon is looking a lot brighter incidentally, but still wants to be by itself , i.e does not want to swim with the other tetras. I have had the fish for about two days.

 

[WILDER]

Is it possilbe ot issolate him, just to keep an eye on him, has all his colour come back in the red stripe.

Leaving this link so you no what to look out for, good luck.
http/freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/neondisease.htm

 

[annka5]

I imagine your ammonia is high because there are no bacteria present to break it down. So your fish isn't well as a result.
The others are fine jsut now, even in teh same water, but this is likely to be becuase they were fitter, healthier to begin with - maybe the poorly one is just not as healthy as the rest to start off with.
Read the pinned article on cycling the tank. That'll help you understand the process more fully.
You need to monitor ammonia levels and do regular (e.g. daily) partial water changes to keep that and the nitrite levels at a point where your fish will survive.
I don't think you need to separate the poorly fish, he's probably jsut more sensitive to the water quality than the others are.