Sick Neons - What is this?

[jbmfg]

I am having an issue with about half of my 9 neon tetras. At first i thought someone was fin nipping but when i watch the tank none of that is happening. Furthermore, where the fins are missing, its a little white and the neons are a little haggered looking in general. They look like they've been beaten up on their sides maybe missing scales or something. It's so hard to say because they are so small. I eventually decided that its finrot and got them on tetracycline. That treatment took a week or so and is now done. I dont see any major improvment but I am not sure if i should this quickly. At the same time i also noticed some ICH on my black neons and so raised the temp and they seem good to go now. Whatever is going on with my regular neons does not look like ich to me. Below is a dropbox of some photos of them. Hard to see clearly but if you look at the tails you will see the problem hopefully. Does this looks like finrot or something else? How long after the tetracycline doses should i see a difference?

Tank size: 20G
Ammonia: Normal
NitrIte: Normal
NitrAte:Normal
PH/GH/KH:Normal
Cycled,yes or no: yes
Number of fish: ~15
Acclimation process: bag in water to get temp the same ~30 min. Add tankwater to bag ~30 min. Add fish
Physical signs of illness(IE spots,shimmer,ECT): first post
How often between fish additions: nothing set.
Waterchange schedule: ~20% biweekly
Tank temp: 82 right now for the ich treatment

When i say normal i mean on the dipstick the colors all come up in the safe range.

Thanks!
Dropbox - Error - Simplify your life

 

[rmiller]

Can you please define normal? If you're using test strips you will not have accurate readings, please get yourself a liquid test kit ASAP. It's one of the most important items in keeping your fish healthy.

Take a look at neon tetras disease, see if it looks like what you're going thru.

 

[jbmfg]

I just read about neon tetra disease but not all of it fits. Especially the part about the change in behavior. They all school well together with none of them separating. Additionally i havent seen any of them have trouble swimming even with their damaged tails. Second, i originally noticed the fin raggedness several months ago. It got better with no intervention so i assumed it had been a tussle between the newer black neons and the regular neons. Dont get me wrong, i havent ruled it out completely, its just that with them acting so normal it doesnt seem to quite fit. Also ive had these guys for nearly a year. I did just add some hatchets and danios about 10 days ago but I noticed the issue with these neons right around then.

I did just notice that one of them has a rather large white bump on his side. Cottony looking i think, its hard to tell with him darting around.

 

[jbmfg]

I dont know if anyone can see my dropbox link but i just put a few more pics and a video up. The pics dont show a whole lot but if you watch the video you can see it pretty plainly in the very beginning. I just noticed that using the built in player for the video on DB lowers the quality substantially. Download it first and you will see the roughness on the side of the first fish in the top rightish corner

 

[jbmfg]

pH = 7.6
Ammonia = 0-.25ppm
Nitrite = 0-0.25 ppm
Nitrate = 10-20ppm


I gave ranges for Ammonia and Nitrite because im a little color blind and seeing the differences between the shades isnt my strongest suit. However, in both instances i would say it was closer to 0 than .25. Since my last post I've gotten the water up to exactly 86 degrees f.

My fish are all still acting very normal and i see no obvious signs of Ich on the black neons. The regular neon tetras that were looking bad still look bad but i dont think they are worse. I dont think any of the ones that looked good to begin with have gotten sick either.

 

[rmiller]

Based on the pics and video you have linked, I don't see anything wrong with them. The ones on the paper, where they dead or did you just pull them out of the tank for a quick photo?

 

[jbmfg]

Yeah i agree, the ones on the paper look like nothing is wrong. I just pulled them for a quick photo. If you look at the video again, the neon that is the highest you can see his side is a little messed up. Then on a few of the others if you focus on their tails you can see the problem. BTW Downloading the video before playing provides much better quality than looking at it within db.

 

[rmiller]

The first neon at the top of the video does seem to swim a bit funky and I see where the others look like they are growing new tail fins. Over all they look healthy. I would keep a close eye on them, keep your water clean, and repost if you see any new issues.