Water changes and fertilizer

[Essjay]

Good, that's a real honey gourami

 

[AlexT]

I have to say that I feel a lot better reading this. Reading up on fin rot and seeing that the number one cause is dirty water, I wasn't feeling so great about myself as a fishkeeper.

Been reading this thread. Stuff about potential NTD. The stressful side of the hobby. Wishing you well. My corydoras might have something similar and playing the waiting game like you

 

[Colin_T]

Pictures of the neons so we can identify the issue?
What other fishes are in the tank?
What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH of the water?
How long have you had the neons?
How long has the tank been set up for?

If you have had the fish for a while and the water is good, then Gary is probably right about fin nipping rather than fin rot.

 

[sharkweek178]

Pictures of the neons so we can identify the issue?

What other fishes are in the tank?

1 honey gourami, 16 -18 pygmy corydoras (maybe a few more), 6 amano shrimp, 3 assassin snails, and some MTS

What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH of the water?

Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5 ppm, pH 7.4. And even though you didn't ask; temperature 75 degrees, hardness 136 ppm.

How long have you had the neons?

I got a dozen at the beginning of February. Within a week all but one died. I waited about a month to make sure that the issue wasn't with the tank (as far as I can tell, it wasn't), bought 11 more beginning of March, quarantined them for a month and then added them. Started noticing health problems with the neons in June (white lumps on mouths) and spots on tails. Treated with Fritz Maracin Oxy. Still seeing the mouth lumps on some of them. No issues with other fish in tank (at least not visible). Since June, 3 of the neons have died. I'm not replacing them. I'm going to let the remaining neons live out their lives then replacing them with something else. Noticed the fin rot past week or so.

How long has the tank been set up for?

Started setting up and adding plants last October. Added fish in February.

If you have had the fish for a while and the water is good, then Gary is probably right about fin nipping rather than fin rot.

Maybe. But I'm not seeing that kind of aggressive behavior. They dance around and chase each other in the morning but in a normal neon way that isn't harmful. The honey gourami is pretty mild mannered and doesn't act aggessively towards the neons. I doubt the pygmy corys could do that kind of damage.
I could understand the possibility of the reduced number or neons increasing aggression among them. But I'm not seeing that kind of behavior.

 

[sharkweek178]

Been reading this thread. Stuff about potential NTD. The stressful side of the hobby. Wishing you well. My corydoras might have something similar and playing the waiting game like you

We can only do our best. And we have a good resource here with this site for helping to figure things out.

 

[Colin_T]

The white lump that grows out of the bottom lip on neon tetras is a new disease and we're pretty sure it's a virus because it only affects neon and cardinal tetras. There's no cure for it and you euthanise the fish when they can't swim or eat properly.

The white stuff on the tail looks like excess mucous, which is produced by the fish to protect damaged areas. Salt should clear it up. You shouldn't need to do big daily water changes because the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are good.

I would just add some salt and monitor the white bits on the tails and fins.
Use 1 heaped tablespoon of rock salt per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. If there's no improvement after 48 hours, increase it to a total of 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres. Keep salt in the tank for 2 weeks.

 

[sharkweek178]

The white lump that grows out of the bottom lip on neon tetras is a new disease and we're pretty sure it's a virus because it only affects neon and cardinal tetras. There's no cure for it and you euthanise the fish when they can't swim or eat properly.

The white stuff on the tail looks like excess mucous, which is produced by the fish to protect damaged areas. Salt should clear it up. You shouldn't need to do big daily water changes because the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are good.

I would just add some salt and monitor the white bits on the tails and fins.
Use 1 heaped tablespoon of rock salt per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. If there's no improvement after 48 hours, increase it to a total of 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres. Keep salt in the tank for 2 weeks.

I read some of your prior posts on this.. Mix the salt into some tank water and add it gradually over an hour. I'll need to treat any new water that I add, ie water changes, with the same level of salt. And when the salt treatment is done, do 10% water changes every day for a week with unsalted water, then 20% every day the next week to acclimate the fish.
I have a few pounds of canning salt that I use for hatching baby brine shrimp. I'm pretty certain that's aquarium safe. I checked before I bought it. It's not iodized and doesn't have anti caking additives.

 

[sharkweek178]

The white lump that grows out of the bottom lip on neon tetras is a new disease and we're pretty sure it's a virus because it only affects neon and cardinal tetras. There's no cure for it and you euthanise the fish when they can't swim or eat properly.

The white stuff on the tail looks like excess mucous, which is produced by the fish to protect damaged areas. Salt should clear it up. You shouldn't need to do big daily water changes because the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are good.

I would just add some salt and monitor the white bits on the tails and fins.
Use 1 heaped tablespoon of rock salt per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. If there's no improvement after 48 hours, increase it to a total of 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres. Keep salt in the tank for 2 weeks.

This has been super helpful. I'm at the two week mark. So I'll start acclimating to fresh water.
There has been improvement but they aren't healed completely. I know I can only keep salt in the water for a limited time. My question is how long before I can do a salt treatment again?

 

[sharkweek178]

Update. The salt treatment was somewhat helpful. It did a number on my salvinia minima though. It didn't clear them completely up but obviously I couldn't use it forever. I finished reacclimating the fish to completely fresh water a short time ago. Just today I noticed that one of the neon's has a fuzzy growth on its anal fin. Considering that I lost a quarter of them since summer, I don't know how long these ones have all I can do is watch them and regular water charges to keep the water quality good so they're as comfortable as I can make them. If I have to euthanize then I'm prepared to do that as needed.