Tetra Problems :-/

[smithw14]

Hey all -

Had a school of 6 neon tetras in my community tank - bought them about 2 weeks ago. 1 tetra died soon after purchase, didnt see it coming he just dissapeared then I found him dead in some clumps of plants. 2nd neon died, or rather was on his way and was euthanized about 5 days ago after he appeared to be having equilibrium problems and appeared in distress. So after I was down to 4 neons, I noticed that they had broken from their school and now are nipping at each other/chasing each other away. Is this due to the # of them or is this some other reason for their nipping at each other?

On a side note tonight a bleeding heart tetra in the same tank was noticed doing the same frantic swimming thing (equilibrium problems), so he has been removed and quarenteend and i am attempting a salt/melafix dose, although I am sure whatever this is has progressed too far for treatment. T

I looked up neon tetra disease and I gotta say the indicators they give really are not applying to these fish - only the restlessness/difficulty swimming. No discoloration, lumps, etc. Maybe it is - i dont know. I certainly hope not for the sake of my other fish.

Any ideas about both these problems?

details for those interested:
0 nitrites/amonia, 20ppm nitrates, 77*F, ph 7.2, planted community tank with fancy guppies, blue gourami, apple snails, otocinclus, emerald cory, albino cory, neon tetras, 1 red eyed tetra (who thinks he is a guppy), and 1 ghost shrimp named Fred.

 

[Zagz]

What size tank is it? Your cories and snails will not like salt added to the water. You have to be careful with salt. It is quite possible all the tetras had something right from the lfs.

With the swimming difficulties is there any bloating at all? It may be constipation, try feeding some frozen peas to the fish and see if that helps.

For schooling fish, more always is always better for the fish with the exception of tank size. Overstocking just to make a larger school of fish can be more detrimental than good.

 

[smithw14]

sorry for the confusion, that treatment for the bleeding heart was being done seperately in my hospital tank. He got worse as the night progressed and was euthanized.

Tank is a 20g long. No bloating at all on the tetras. I thought about constipation and thats why i added salt to the hospital tank - no frozen peas here.

Well, I am hoping the rest of the tetras won't go - or even worse take some of my other fish with them. I'm too impatient when i get new fish to quarenteen them - I probably should though. I'll eventually pay the price - its only a matter of time.