Sick Neon Tetra

[jredmartin]

First time poster.

I have a Neon Tetra that I have had for about 5 days. It is acting like it is dying (I think). I cant really call it swimming but its rolling around and twisting etc... it's like his body is out of control. Dose anyone know what could be wrong? If I can figure this out I will try to post a short video clip somehow or a link to it.

As far as water quality is concerned everything if fine. 0 ammonia, nitrates, etc... Soft RO water, Clean filters, using marineland carbon, zeolite blend in one filter and using sera super peat in the other filter frame. Ph is just right, all other water paramaters are good.

Thanks for any advice you could give. let me know if their is anyother info you need.

 

[IT-FishGuy]

Could be

A multitude of things.
Best treatments for the "flashing darting" fish is Maracyn Two or Maracyn. There is also MelaFix and PimaFix, but the first two I've been using with great success for a while now. To really know what it has you'd have to look to see if it has anything on it's body and report back.

 

[jredmartin]

Sick Neon

Sorry the video clip is not playing correctly I dont know if I downloaded the video to youtube correctly or not. I will try to figure out youtube uploading and then try to re-upload it later.

The fish has no apparent external problems like scrapes, bulges, bloating, wasting away, parasites, bloody gills, etc... Physically, other than the behavior, it looks normal. The colors are bold and strong, etc...

I read somewhere online earlier today that it could possibly be a swim bladder problem related to over eating. ?????? It said not to feed it for a while to see if it stopped behaving erratically. So I havent fed since early this morning and tonight it dose seem to be normal. I will continue to keep an eye on it though.

I do have some melafix that I ordered in a while back that I will try. But we dont have any petstores in this small town we live in and it will be another two weeks before we will be able to get into the city to get some of the Maracyn Two or Maracyn. That is if I can be fortunate enough to find it in the petstores they have up in the city - I really dont remember seeing it the last time I was there. They didnt have many fish medications except for an ick medication. In fact they even didnt have many fish or fish supplies to really mention of. Wallmart as limited as it is - is about as good as it gets. I usually have to order things I need and have them shipped in from various online pet suppliers which sometimes takes a week or longer to receive. By the time things arrive I have already has to do a toiletbowl funeral for the fish. My young children get a twisted kick out of seeing the poor little bellyup thing being swirled around until it dissappears down the drain. Just when I think that they are feeling some kind of compassion by asking me to bring it back - they saythey want it back so that they can see it go swirling down again.

 

[jredmartin]

Ok I'm reattempting this video clip thing on youtube from my original posting. Lets see if it works better this time. You should be able to better see what I was trying to describe earlier.

YouTube - ‪Sick Neon.avi‬‎

 

[IT-FishGuy]

Not good

In my years of keeping fish, if they swim like that it's only a matter of time before they go belly up. The info you found on the web regarding swim bladder is probably pretty accurate. If it's an internal problem or bacteria related Maracyn-two should fix it, if given within the right time.
If you're in an area where fish meds cannot be found do yourself a favor and order the largest you can afford from someplace on line. I'd suggest Maracyn-Two and Maracyn to start with. You may also want to get MarOxy and Maracide for those one off problems you may run into.
Been my experience, esp. when I started back up a year ago that you'll need fish meds and it's better to get them early on. Once you have good tank conditions then you're more likely not to need them too often.
Sometimes you'll get sick fish from LFS and that's a bummer. Learn their policy on returns or replacements if the fish goes belly up. Also be sure to watch the fish at the store for a fair amount of time. Also ask when the new fish were introduced, that way you can determine if you can actually get healthy fish from the tank.
Some of this you may have already known, but since I don't know your background I thought I'd try to cover a wide range. If you do know it, then great, just filter out what you do know.

 

[jredmartin]

Well I Just found the poor thing dead. He seemed to be doing fine for the last several days, but when I looked in the aquarium this morning I found him tangled up bellyup in some plants. I dont think it has been dead very long by the looks of it. But I put my magnum HOT micron filter in for a while and then will be changing out some water as soon as I get a chance in a few minutes.

 

[kaiofcanada]

Sorry for the loss. Poor guy.

 

[IT-FishGuy]

Neon

Yeah that stinks, I was hoping it could pull through, but when they "swim" like that it's vertical battle to keep them alive. It's a chance to go out and get more. Poor little fish.