Neon tetra disease?

C

chicago1847

AC Members
Mar 20, 2005
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I isolated a neon from my tank with the following description:
-red streak is starting to look pale in the center
-one >raised< white dot on one side
-constantly opening and closing its mouth
The fish does not have any spine curvature or white patches and does not eat much. Now I have noticed two other neons with transparent dots on their tail fins. Anybody know what disease, if any, is present? Also, I notice that sometimes they will swim up real fast to the cracked clay pot I have in the tank and swipe their body against it.

6 neons
1 red dwarf gourami
20gal
water is stable
 
Sounds like ich. When I had NTD it was just a loss of color and no longer schooling or eating then death. The color loss went from the tail on up to the head. I never noticed a loss of color in the mid section first. Can you give afew more details? You know like how long the tanks been up, exact water conditions and what not. Most here can tell you alot just from your ammonia/nitirite/nitrate readings. I think the age of the tank can tell us alot as well for many reasons. One side note though is neons are touchy fish and can get sick rather easy even if everything else seems to be ok in a tank.
-Nei Sithlord
 
I agree with Neo, plus neons can lose their color for several reasons, stress, disease, etc. not just NTD. With the spots, and swiping, it is more than likely ich. In that case you will need to treat the whole tank. search for the thread about treating with heat and salt and give that method a try, I think it is in one of the stickys.
 
Thanks people, I'll check the stickies for ich. My tank has been up for 4 months...last I checked ammonia,nitrates,nitrites were all zero. Ph is around 7.8, I have the temp set at 79 although it was up around 83 until I realized the rena cal heater was off by 4 degrees. Oh, I also bought the neons from Petsmart which probably was not a good idea. Also, I have been adding salt to the tank (1 tblspoon/5 gal) with every water change because the guy at the LFS said it was good for the fish. I just started the salt routine about a week ago.
Oh, and if you guys know, why is the envelope icon on my thread closed with a black dot on it...did I close it by accident?
 
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First, how many teaspoons of slat are you adding per water change? Please read up on salt use--it is NOT a good practice for freshwater tropical fish, that need very little in the way of salt, and complicates matters for treating ailments.

For the icon issue--closed means there are unread replies (ie, the one you made, or one from someone else) and the black dot indicates it's a thread you have responded to.
 
Well I did some research and found this...

"Many others, like most barbs and tetras, seem more indifferent. A tablespoon for every five gallons of water works well for us. We've used a tablespoon per five gallons in virtually all our freshwater tanks for over 25 years with no apparent problems, and have noticed benefits, particularly in dealing with swordtails, mollies and other livebearers."

So now I'm confused with what I've researched and what Oriongirl is saying. Can someone help?
 
Check out The SkepticalAquariast.com for his article on salt. There are some benefits seen for some livebearers, but it's more because the salt increases TDS, rather than because they need salt. Think about is logically--these fish live in water with very low natural levels of salt. Why would making it a constant presence be beneficial? Yes, walt can be used to effectively treat some maladies, but it's a myth, perpetrated by people who don't understand the effect they see, that all tanks need salted.
 
You guys need to start reading into the post a bit closer, he never mentioned several white dots, just ONE raised dot. This does not automatically put it into the ich catergory. This could be any number of things, from bacteria, to fungal, to a parasite like ich or something worse. Also salt should only be used as a medication, never just another water additive. Doses of up to 1 CUP of salt per 10gal of water is perfectly safe for nearly all of the freshwater fish. You need to use it as a medication however and etended periods of exposure to this salinity level may cause problems. When treating for bacterial infections on discus I use this dose and sometimes a bit more, I have had cories and farlowella in the discus tanks at the time, and they didn't have any adverse reaction to the aditional salt. Generally this is all it takes to wipe out a bacterial infection with no other added meds. This one lone white dot on this Neon sounds more like an external parasite thats larger than ich, that being said however, if the neon develops more of these white dots about the size of salt grains, and it starts looking like someone sprinkled salt all over it, then you have a case of ich.

You should never begin treating a fish for something until you have confirmed what it is, NEVER go by what one person tells you soley untill you have gone and done the research into that subject and compared it to what you have infront of you. Treating a fish for a disease, infection, or parasites without knowing Exactly what it is, is as bad as not treating the fish at all.
 
Thanks people. Well, the fish I isolated is now dead so I guess I can't treat it anyway. I hope the other neons are okay...I haven't noticed them rubbing up against anything lately. I'll stop adding salt to the 25% water changes too.
 
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