Neon Tetra Disease?

FishGirl

When I've gotten new neons I've noticed some kind of angular bumps. They have gone away once the fish have been feed enough and beef up a little. There must be a lot of competition for food in some of those tanks. I've seen literally hundreds of little neons in a lfs tank. Survival of the fittest.

I've also noticed that my females (formerly fat w/eggs) have looked a bit emaciated for a short time after they must have laid eggs (I only noticed because the male was protecting the spawn area and chasing the other neons away.) This went away quickly too.

When I first set up my tank and was ready for fish I went and purchased 20 neon tetras. I thought that they were so small that the bio load wouldn't be a problem. Well it was. They got ick and fungus and all of them died taking 5 of my previous 6 healthy ones with them. I learned a big bad lesson. If only the lfs didn't promote special offers like 20 for $10 and the like. Ethically, they knew better and should've told me not to put more than 3 or 4 little fish into a tank at a time. So I lived and learned a lesson there. It is possible that what you're seeing isn't Neon Tetra disease, but their immune systems breaking down because of the amount of fish introduced to the tank at one time. Check your ammonia levels frequently until all are healthy again. You may need to do some water changes until your tank parameters come back into balance.

doraslilhitman

neons seem kind of fragile...are they even worth investing in at all if they die on you for the slightest of reasons?

1077

My thoughts on this are that it used to be,, fish were bred here in the US by breeders that started with quality stock and thus quality fish were readily available. More and more fish these days are imported and due to poor fish keeping by some breeders, heavy use of anti- biotics, hormone treatments, and dyes used to enhance coloring,,, many of the fish are sick when they arrive. Add to this the travel time and acclimation from shipping water to dealers tanks and then to hobbyists tanks and many fish do not survive. I might be tempted were it me, (and it ain't) to look on places such as aqua bid for breeders here in the US that offer the same fishes but perhaps of better quality assuming that the people who raise them take proper care to produce quality stock. It would seem that they might ,if they wished to make any money doing so. Fish farms in the east or here for that matter are more interested in turning out volume rather than quality. IMHO

Tyyrlym

Neon Tetra disease is not that common. The problem is that any time a neon dies it is immediately blamed on NTD, sort of the curse of having that disease named after them.

I have a dozen neons right now in a well maintained tank. I've had this group from a start of just four and built it up. They've been going strong for almost seven months now with nary a death.

Neons are small fish, and like any small fish small changes in the habitat will affect them more seriously than a larger fish. Most "delicate" fish aren't really that delicate, they're just intolerant of poor living conditions. Given a well maintained tank, a good diet, and an owner who actively looks after their health they're no more delicate than any other fish. A delicate fish to me is a Dwarf Gourami, who even if well looked after is still always in danger of infection.

1077

Despite proper care, fish that are sick from the outset do poorly. It then ceases to be a hobby from which pleasure or joy can be realized and quickly tuns into a stressful,time consuming, and often expensive exercise in medicating which more often as not yields mediocre results.We need to learn how when purchasing fish,, to identify those that are possibly sick. Of the fish I have kept, The Discus and otocinclus ,have been hands down, the most sensitive followed by neons and cardinals.

doraslilhitman

so odd angular bumps on the abdomens are not a sign of problems? they behave normally just seeing that their bellies are not smooth kind of worries me.

FishGirl

I would watch them for other symptoms and unhealthy appearing behaviors (listlessness, isolation, swimming problems, etc.) and keep a close eye on your water parameters. Feed them well maybe two smaller meals a day instead of one for awhile, but don't overfeed.

If you find other symptoms (fungus, ich, whatever) isolate them immediately and treat. If it were me I would start off with them in a quarantine tank and then isolate any that appear sick. But as far as the bumps go, I've seen them on mine when I purchased them. Now that they have a little flesh, they appear smooth. The only time I see anything like them (flesh that is bumpy, etc.) anymore is after the females have dropped their eggs until they beef up again.

G9

I've actually noticed another suspect...

1077

I would remove the fish. Better to sacrifice one to save the many.

Tyyrlym

Yeah, that is definitely not a neon in good health. He's lost a great deal of fin for some reason and his body is... well not right. I don't know what it is but isolation from everyone else in a QT tank at a minimum.