Glowlight Tetra turning white?! Help!

[Emmielou92]

First time poster

Hello All.

My 6 Glowlight Tetras, seemingly overnight, have.. I apologize for my lack of articulation.. turned white? Their bodies have gone from a translucent slightly silvery colour, and are now a sort of opaque, milky white.. I see no ulcers, legions, marks etc, they seem to be white under their skin.
Fish behaviour is normal, eating fine, swimming OK, my Glowies are quite docile and shy as it is, my 3 originals are quite large with rounded bellies, not sure if this is normal.
Breathing semi rapid, perhaps normal, Black Neons slower in breath? Gills look fine, slightly pinky red, but all look the same, and always have. Had white spot cysts (no more then 3 on about 3 fish, but they have ceased after 3 doses of Anti White Spot) ALTHOUGH a few Black Neons have 1 or 2 'spots' but they look more shimmery.. 1 has a gold one, one silver on its body.. not
sure if it is just its pattern?

(Ich symptoms began a week ago)

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
(Test everyday)
Went to the Aquatics store a few weeks ago, and they said my Nitrate and pH level is fine. I apologize, I am new to Fishkeeping, and don't often check my Nitrate nor pH.. just every now and then.

Tank is a 65 Litre, (17 US Galls) (14 UK Galls) Rectangular.
I have had the tank approx 3 Months, (1 Month with Bacterial Promoter, then 2 Months with added fish)

Aqua Internal 200 Filter - 100-200 gall turnover ph? (a far superior filter for the tank size, but it was 'custom made' by my Aquatics store.

I have currently 6 Glowlight Tetras, and 6 Black Neon Tetras, about 1.5 inches in size, each.


My last water change was 2 days ago, Usually once a week, but more recently every 4 days due to Ich. I remove usually around 20-25%, but have removed 50% twice previously due to illness (Ich)
I gravel vacc every 2 weeks usually, but again, eachtime in the last 2 weeks due to Ich in the tank.

My first 3 Glowlights, and 2 Black Neons were added 2 months ago.
My last 3 Glowlights and 4 Black Neons were added exactly 2 weeks ago, and
I suspect as they were from another store, have brought disease in, as all fish were fine before I added the new ones.
I layed the bag into the tank water for approx 15 mins, (not long enough I know..) then put them in the tank. I was rather newbie and did not quarantine, my quarantine tank needs a new heater.. and poured them in.
I realize my error, and hope you do not judge me too harshly..

I added 3 new live plants in the last 2 weeks, and some driftwood, which I boiled previously. The plants may be contaminated.. I added more sand substrate 2 weeks ago, and 2 live plants about a month + ago. That's everything in my tank.
ALWAYS add de-chlorinater during w/c.


I originally fed them fish flake food, but for the last month, brine worm.
They nibble on the live plants occasionally also.
I feed once a day, a pinch, or a little more when a few of the smaller ones have not reached it. I fed every 2 days when cycling, which was 2 months agoish.

Thank you for reading, and I hope for your help and advice.
I apologize again for being rather naive. I adore my fish and do not want
my errors to potentially harm them.

Ask away!


PICTURE IS NOT MY OWN GLOWLIGHTS, credit to the original pic.
Cam isn't working, but they look VERY similar.
Apart from a few of mine have larger, rounded tums.
Will get cam to work ASAP.

Emma.

 

[HUKIT]

Welcome to AA,

Sorry this type of situation has to be your first post, is there anyway to show any pictures as they didn't show up in the thread? I know you mentioned the camera but maybe just copy and paste a picture from Google.

It also sounded like they are eating and generally behaving normal?

 

[Emmielou92]

Here is a picture, that looks very similar to my situation..

Glowlight Tetras dropping like flies. What's wrong?

Yes, behaviour is perfectly fine, still all alive.

Thanks for the reply also

Em.

 

[HUKIT]

Emma, thanks I received the link in my email but I'm afraid to say that neon tetra disease is the first thing that comes to mind. This is a parasitic infection with no known cures which results with the fish being euthanized. Once the parasitic infection hits the intestinal tract, the newly hatched embryos burrow through the intestinal wall and produce cysts within the muscle tissue. Muscles bearing the cysts begin to die, and the necrotic tissue becomes pale, eventually turning white in color.

I hope I'm wrong but that's my gut feeling I'm afraid to say. I've been involved in this hobby for many years and the good lord knows I've had my more than fair share of diseases and sick fish so I know the feeling.

I would try to remove the infected fish and place them into a quarantine tank if possible since this can be contagious, if not then I would continue to monitor the fish along with keeping the water conditions as pristine as possible. I foyu start seeing other symptoms such as cysts develop, body may become lumpy,
fish has difficulty swimming such as swim bladder issues, or I've even some fish showing curvature in their spines then I'd start euthanizing.

Good luck and keep us posted if you could.

Again welcome to AA!

 

[Emmielou92]

Hi again,

I was half expecting that, but am hoping you are wrong.. but have a feeling you could be right.. a few people have said it could be NTD but weren't sure..

I actually have a picture of my fish now, and the picture doesn't do much justice..
They are more 'cloudy' then it makes out.. whiter, but not AS bad as that image I sent clearly.. so could this be first stages? Or maybe not NTD?
It has been 3 days since the change of colour, happened overnight and they were
previously quite transparent/more silver tummed. Now above their stripe as you can see is 'whiter' and opaque.. hmmm.. I thought it wasnt NTD as I thought it came on
very fast, but they seem fine in behaviour... was weird how ALL 6 have been affected, but black neons look fine :S

Can diet or medication affect their colouring? I have just treated them for Ich, well
week ago.. no cysts so I can see.. ill have a closer look.

http://images.4chan.org/an/src/1367100082470.jpg

I put it on an animal board.. no replies.

Let me know again..
I appreciate the opinion!!
Don't want to euthanize if can really be helped :/


Em.

 

[HUKIT]

The picture doesn't look to bad to be honest, yes diet and stress can effect the coloration of the fish. From here I'd simply feed a high quality diet and keep the water as clean as possible with a nitrate concentration of 10ppm would be ideal. Then as your currently doing keep a close eye on everyone and hope I'm wrong.