Whats up with my neons?

[bhoystris]

My 4 neon tetra's are concerning me. After feeding them i notice for the next few hours strange behaviour. They swim about at an angle with their tails up and face downwards. Is this something to do with feeding?
Im sure im not feeding my fish alot as i only use a pinch of food. I also have 4 Rummy Nosed Tetras 4 Harlequins(Rasbora) and 2 other tetras that i am unsure of name. Its a 16 gallon tank.
I would be grateful if anyone else has seen this behaviour with the Neon Tetra and could tell me why they do it.

Bhoystris

 

[William]

Hi bhoystris, welcome to the forum.

Neons are quite susceptible to disease, I doubt it is anything to do with feeding despite the timing you mention. I have never seen this behaviour before however I do know the neons suffer from a disease, neon tetra disease, this will affect their swimming style.

Do your fish have any obvious damage to them and would they look like this:

slightly less vibrant colours and the appearance of marks on the skin?

 

[William]

Thanks for the response william. I did have a couple of neon tetras that died after looking like that picture however the ones i have look o.k. Is it possible they have the disease but not showing all the obvious symptoms.
I have noticed on my Rummy Nosed tetras and my other 2 tetras of unknown name marks on their head. Is this related?

Well I'm afraid thats very bad news for you. Neon tetra disease is highly contagious and there is no known cure for it. You may be interested to read this post: http/fish.orbust.net/forums/index.php?ac...cfa4ced32d0bb2f its about the same problem. Basically the only thing you can do really is wait and if the neons die then wait at least 6 months before getting any other neons in the tank as the disease will inger - apparently cardinals are immune to it so that could be the way forward for your tank if its what we fear.

 

[ostrow]

UH -OH! William ... is it contagious to others

 

[William]

Yes, it can wipe out an entire tank of neons, the only thing you can do is remove any infected neons and hope that it has not spread to the other fish, however often it is too late. Interestingly Cardinal tetras are immune to the disease.

 

[ostrow]

Sorry. What I meant to ask, is it contagious to other fish (platies, loaches, plecos, etc)?

 

[Crashed]

I had problems with neons when i first started where as i lost a few,
putting it down to a bad batch from the local fish fish, i decided later
to buy some more elseware, and they are still swimming around after 3 years of pleasing the families eyes...

Later I purchased 20 cardinals & they seem more tollerant than neons
when it comes to certain problems in the tank, if only cardinals was as cheap as neons where i live 1 cardinal can buy 3 to 4 neons..

Isolate the affected fishes in a seperate tank if you can, as it's not worth the risk loosing all your fishes if it spreads...

Treat a disease just like you would a computer virus, isolate it,
contain it, than nuke it (treat it)