How do i stop my neon tetra dying?

Question

I have a fairly new fish tank (about a month old) and bought some neon tetra 4 days ago. Unfortunately 2 have died already. What can I do. My water has been tested and is fine, as are the other fish in my aquarium (4 glowlight tetra and 2 male guppies).

Please help as I would hate for the remaining 3 neons to die.

Thanks

lighting is good and I have been feeding them.

Don't like the sound of 90% of tetra dying :(

Answer 1

Your water quality may be fine, but perhaps it is not 'mature.' Freindly bacteria help to break down the waste in the water, which can build up very quickly if not matured. Add some Stress-Zyme to help speed up the maturation process. Plants help to do this, also. Salting the water (ask for dosage at pet shop, don't want to advise as don't know your set-up) in the tank will help with diesase prevention. There are a number of products for treating sick fish that you could use as a preventative measure, preferably in a quarantine tank. These are Melafix and Methylene Blue. Melafix can be used in-tank, but meth-blue needs to be done in quarantine, as it can kill plants. It is a powerful antiseptic, and follow instructions carefully- a little goes a long way. There are various 'tonics' etc available containing enzymes and or vitamins that might help. Only medicate your fish with one thing at a time, don't use a cocktail. A quarantine tank (a small one is only about £10) is a worthwhile investment. You don't need to make it fancy, just use it for new and sick fish. The last thing you want is to introduce something from the new fish to the old fish! There is also the possibility of tank-shock, where the new fish have failed to get used to the water in the new aquarium when they are put in. Don't worry, if you followed the pet shop instructions it is nothing you did, it's just that some fish are hardier than others. They might also die of fright, exhaustion, or a number of diseases. Remember, these fish had a long journey before you got them, so anything could have happened. It isn't your fault! Neons are pretty hardy when compared to other types of tetra (rummy nose for example, are almost guaranteed to die!) but they require a slightly higher temp than other fish. They are quite sensitive. How large is your tank? The bigger it is the longer it will take to mature. Also, if it is small, try to even out the level dwelling, ie, you need top, middle, and bottom dwellers. I like ancistrus catfish (bristle nose) for hardy bottom dwellers, or pepper coryadoras. Danios are quite hardy mid-dwellers, and rasboras and some types of gourami are also. Gouramis are mid-top dwellers. Also, it can take a while for the filter bacteria to establish, to clean the water. White spot, which is often a problem, is hard to see on tetras because they are so small. They may have other internal problems you can't diagnose because of their size. I would not add any more fish to the tank until no fish have died for a month, and I would try with stress zyme. Then, keep trying! I have 38 fish in a 180 litre tank, and they are ranging from 1-7 years old. In this time, I have probably lost 38 fish. Unfortunately, it is an occupational hazard of aquarium keeping. Best of luck!

Answer 2

Hate to say it, but it may just be your fish. Due to all the inbreeding and the market's large demand for tetras, they are not nearly as hardy as they used to be. Anytime we get any sickness in our tank, the neons are usually the first to go.

Do you have any symptoms? Are they lethargic? Not eating? Any growths, lesions, or color changes? Without any symptoms, I really can't give you any advice on how to treat them... If you have a separate tank, consider taking the sick neons out and adding them to the separate tank. Then add one tablespoon of aquarium salt per five gallons of water. This may or may not help.

You should really consider getting a quarantinet tank. A small five or ten gallon with a heater and filtration. Next time you get new fish, you should put them in the quarantine tank for 4-6 weeks to make sure they aren't sick and don't contaminate the rest of your fish. That way, in the event they do show signs of sickness, you can dose them without worrying about medicating the rest of your fish that may not need it.

Good luck. I hope this works out for the better for you.

Answer 3

I had the same problem about 14yrs ago and a pet store owner told me to put a penny in my tank. I did and didn't have any more problems. I started a 55 gallon tank about 2yrs ago with guppies, glowlight tetras, neons, and a cory cat. Same thing the neons started dying. So I put about 4 pennys in the tank and have had no more problems. Try it and see it worked for me.
Good luck,
Mrs Jonnylobo

Answer 4

In my opinion there are two options:
either your neons have neon tetra disease, or they are being eaten by your other fish.
To determine the problem you have to look at the carcus of the fish soon after dying, because after it's dead other fish may eat it: if you see it's bitten (you'll see the skeleton) that will mean it was eaten by another bigger fish, meaning there's nothing you can do about the poor little guys but moving them into another aquarium. If you don'y see any biting marks- they have neon tetra disease (more info on the website I've attached).
Hope I've helped ya'
Liza!

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/neondisease.htm

Answer 5

Sick Neon Tetra

Answer 6

Neon tetras are fairly delicate, and need a mature tank of about 6 monthes. Your tank, may still be cycling, and fish waste can easily kill off fish. Buy an aquarium pharm master test, pH must be stable ammonia and nitrite 0 and nitrate under 50. If any of these things are off change water. Also, change water now daily, about 10-25% using dechlorinated water.

90% of tetras diying is crap. If they were that fragile no one would keep them. Many people, with mature, well filtered tanks, have never suffered casualties

Answer 7

You have a new tank. It is best to keep some cheap fish in it for a few more months. Feed sparingly. Change 10%of water 1 or 2 times a month. Add live plants if possible and make sure fish have plenty of places to hide. If the small ones can't hide they will feel afraid even though they don not have any preditors in the tank with them (they can't figure that out). If they are afraid they will be stressed and that will lead to them getting sick and they will die.

Answer 8

a few questions. first of all, does your tank have a filter and a heater set to a temp of between 75 and 82 degrees farenheit? if you have tropical fish you need a filter and a heater. secondly, did you buy them from a clean and reputable fish store? many stores do not care well for their fishes, such as walmart. your fishes could be sick. also, you need to make sure you did not overstock. the rule is one inch of fish for every gallon of water. you neons could be especially sensitive to this. all i can think is that your fishes are sick. your best bet would be to either quarentine them or just return them to the store. i would return all of them, including the dead ones to the store and get a refund. most stores have a 14 day money back gaurentee on all of their fishes. if they don't then do not buy fish there! when you buy fishes make sure all of the fishes in the tank seem to be in good health, there are no dead ones in the tank, and the water is clean and clear. ask the store how they care for their water and fishes. they should do regular water changes and test the water daily. hopefully the only problem is that your fishes are just having a hard time adjusting and are not sick, as they may get the other fishes sick.

good luck!

Answer 9

The problem with tropical is tat they tend to hide any symptoms of illness from you until its too late! Did they have any signs of disease, the link below has a diagnostic picture and table.

http://www.tropicalfishcentre.co.uk/Diseases1.htm

If not try getting some sort of general tonic for your tank which should be available from the aquatics centre where you got your fish. Always ask the advice of the people who work there. I don't know where you are but if you're near Bristol I can recommend Almodsbury Garden Centre, they give out good advice and we always go there.

Answer 10

90% of tetra die. we had about thirty neons in a large tank, we were trying to get them to school. anyway, after a month we have two!