Why did my fish suddenly die?

[mandy2936]

Hi guys,

I haven't been on here/posted a thread in quite a while now. Because I have been soooo busy lately, I have only have time to come on here and post a thread if there is something wrong. Well, there hasn't been anything wrong with my tank for a while now, until today.

I went down to feed my fish (in the 20g) and to my horror I saw a Neon Tetra definitely dead, stuck to the filter intake (HOB) decomposing. I got him out of there and then tested the water (API liquid).
Ammonia: My guess is zero. The colors for zero and .25 are so similar, but I looked at it under different lighting and I'm pretty sure it is zero.
Nirite: Definitely zero.
Nitrate: 10-20

So, everything checks out to be pretty decent, so I doubt this was a water quality issue. The last time I did a water change was Saturday, so since it's oinly Thursday it's not like I'm overdue for a water change or anything like that.

Another obvious thought would be that the filter intake sucked him in, but that is doubtful to me because I have had that filter type for a year now and nothing like this has ever happened...

My last idea would be death of old age... but do Neons only live a year? This tank was established a year ago and some of the Neons that I have now were apart of it since the begining (I don't have the orginal 6, some have been replaced since it was established, but I've never gone through all six).

Anyway, I hope that someone has an idea of what happened, I don't like fish dying in my tank without a reasonable explanation. What do you think happened? I want to bump the school back up to six, but won't do so before I make sure everything is under control.

Thank you so much.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Neons usually live for five to six years. What other fish are in there? It could be he had Neon Tetra Disease, if so you wanna change water regardless of the levels.

 

[mandy2936]

Hi,
Thanks for the reply.
Take a look at my "My Tanks". There are [now] five Neon Tetras, five Orange Von Rio Flame Tetras, 4 Julii Cories, 3 Male Guppies, and 2 Zebra Nerite Snails.
I'm not familiar with the Neon Tetras disease, so I'll look it up.

 

[HUKIT]

Neon tetra disease has specific symptoms and I find that people throw that out there way to often and NTD doesn't account for the current poor stock being presented today.

You sound like your doing everything right so I wouldn't put much thought into it to be honest, neons are one of the few fish I've personally given up on.

 

[mandy2936]

Neon tetra disease has specific symptoms and I find that people throw that out there way to often and NTD doesn't account for the current poor stock being presented today.

You sound like your doing everything right so I wouldn't put much thought into it to be honest, neons are one of the few fish I've personally given up on.

Thanks for replying.
I've actually never had a problem with any Neons until now. A year ago, when I first established my tank, I cycled it and added fish slowly. When I got up to 3 male guppies and the 4 cories I added 4 Neons. (I was too afraid to do 6 at one time) Then I added 2 more, but unfortunately the two had ich! I luckily discovered this while they were in the bag acclimating and took them back to the store. Eventually I added 2 more again and I've had those 6 neons ever since. That is why I was surprised to see one dead this morning.