Neons dead!

[CompMage]

My wife wanted to surprise me and get me 5 more neons to go with the 7 I already had since 3 months ago when I upgraded my neon tank from a small 10G to a larger 30 Bow front. Now every day when I get up I have anther dead or almost dead neon.

30G Tank

AM = 0 (Or it will not register on my test kit)
NO2 = 0
NO3 = 30 - 40ppm

No leagons, no fin rot, no discoloration. I've never seen anything like it except for AM spikes but I've tested every few hours for a last few days and nothing

I don't have a clue as what to do. Looks like the new fish / fish water must have had something sick.

SO far I've lost
8 Neon Tetra
1 Dwarf Puffer

Living fish that remain unaffected
A Betta
2 Otos
A few neons but I'm not holding my breath on them.

I don't expect a cure all but I'm wondering if it would be wise to pull the remaining healthy fish out of the tank and place them in a iso tank for a little. Or if it would be best to let whatever this is run it curse.

Right now I'm changing water 20% daily and using salts. I'm not a fan of chemicals "cure alls".

I also wonder if anything short of a full break down will help make sure everything is safe again. My isolation tank is my older 10G. I never took it down just moved some of the stuff out of it to the new tank and left it running. So I know it will keep things alive for a time while I redo this tank if need be?

HELP

-C

 

[Devilishturtles]

Aww, sorry Comp.

How old were the neons? How did you acclimate them to your tank?

I'm beginning to think that Neons are sorta becoming like angelfish in that, its hard to find healthy ones from the start but that once you do, the are very hardy. When I used to work retail in the hobby, and would get a new shipment of neons, there would be times when I'd lose near the whole bag (48 at a time), sometimes I'd lose some, sometimes I'd lose none... I know that doesn't help, but I don't think what you are experiencing is neccesarily indicative of a problem. If you think there is an illness being harbored in your tank, you can remove all the fish to your 10 gallon and let whatever it is starve itself out. With no fish host, most illnesses will just die. Keep the tank cycled by adding in some food every once in a while. Might work...

HTH, sorry again.

 

[gu2high]

I never have luck with neon. I have tried them many times, and every time all of them died within a month or two. I have decided to give up. The only thing I can think of is my water pH7.0 is not good for them. They may like 6.5.

 

[squawkbert]

I too have found that w/ Neons & (Cardinals), you have to be very careful.
The following is how I handle them, but my success has been limited as I have not always followed rules 1 & 2. I also don't have a QT, although I can setup a small hospital tank in <10 min, if needed.

1) Do the fish in the store look absolutely perfect (NO light spots on any of them, good coloration)?
2) Have they been there at least 2 weeks?
3) Is your tank water pretty much perfect?
4) If all 3 above are met, buy & bag in groups of ~3 and transport quickly and w/o a bumpy, jarring ride to your tank
5) Acclimate to temp (float) 10-15', add tank water (~10% ov bag's vol every 5' for 20'), then pour everything through a net into a bucket, quick rinse in 2d bucket w/ a little tank water in it, into tank - all pretty quickly.
5a) If it's a planted tank, it's probably best to leave lights off for the rest of the day.

If you spot an ailing Neon/Cardinal, GET IT OUTTA THERE QUICK!

Perfect water is not a requirement of keeping these fish, but it does seem to be a prerequisite for introducing them to a new tank.