Hi
I've come home tonight to find I've got the same thing happening with my neons. One was dead, and was almost all white, and there are two others that are almost half faded. I'm really suprised at how quickly it spreads.
Does anyone know if this is contagious?
Hi, I shared some notes on this disease on a different forum. I have studied this parasite, (Pleistophora), and have learned many things about it. What follows is what I wrote previously. Please take note though, even though it is called neon tetra disease it does spread through other types of fish, tetras particularly and has even been found in angelfish and gouramis.
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Neon tetra disease has a scientific name of Pleistophora, I'm not sure if it is latin or greek, but the name infers that it "releases or bears many spores". The organism is a protozoan, not a bacteria, it actually imbeds itself deep within tissue of the victim. It forms what is called a sporoblast, a kind of protective structure, and inside the nucleus divides and produces many many more spores, and it is said that when the victim dies, and the other fish eat this fish, or when the muscle tissue on the dead victim deteriorates, these spores are released into the water or into the next victim.
It is the poster child of insidious parasitism.
It cannot be cured.
There are people who claim that antibiotics can cure it. By virtue of what Pleistophora is, it is impossible for antibiotics to cure it.
No doubt there are bacteria that can cause illness that looks similar to neon tetra disease, and it is no doubt these cases that have recovered and led to the belief that it can be cured.
It cannot be cured. Period.
How can it be controlled? By understanding how it is spread you can see that removing infected fish BEFORE they die will put a damper on the problem. The spores are released from a victim after death, either by other fish eating the dead fish or by the spores being released after the tissue breaks down and releases them.
Removing and destroying the fish at an early diagnostic stage is the only way to quash it.
But, being the insidious thing that it is, it has another way of spreading. If the spore settles in the fishes' urinary system, ie,Kidneys, then the spores are released in the urine into the water column of the tank. But, this scenario is a less common one.
So, it is important to remove infected fish.
If you go to the store to buy neons, you should look at the fish and see how many are showing signs of Pleistophora. It is present in ALL populations of neon tetras, it may not be visible in the small amount of fish that a particular store buys, but it is present in the larger population that the store group came from.
The other thing people should know is that it also infects other species of tetras, it is said to infect barbs, danios, and even rasboras, but I think it can be agreed that neons are the primary victim, and it is easily found in most tanks of them eventually.
The earliest onset of this disease in neons appears to be two almost gold spots that appear at the caudal peduncle, the base of the tail. Good observation is the only way to detect this, it is very subtle and doesn't last long. Then the red colored area begins to fade, eventually taken over by off white, and a clear eaten away look. Actual lumps will often form on the fish, if it lives this long, and it will appear to have bacterial infections, or pustules, but it is not a bacterial infection. If the fish lives beyond this, most don't, then the spine itself may start becoming deformed.
It is all pretty scary, but fortunately if the infected fish are removed early on then it should slow down in the tank.
Obviously in the wholesale, retail realm, the fish are cramped, stressed, and if it is present then the spores have a major go at it. **************
I further commented on this disease by sharing these thoughts, *********************
When I was breeding neon tetras semi commercially I learned everything I could about this disease. Nearly all of the neons at that time were being far eastern bred and very few were wild caught.
I learned that yes, it could infect other fish. I have never seen it in any characin of mine, and lord knows I had at the time kazillions of tetras in my hatchery. I was working with cardinals at the same time I was working with neons and I never saw a cardinal tetra with it.
If you read literature on the disease it is said that it also infects fish outside of the characins, even some cichlids like angelfish are reported to have contracted it. I have never seen any fish other than neon tetras that have it.
I had asked two of my farmer friends back in the 1990's about it in their hatcheries, both of whom were big players in the tropical fish industry and neither had seen it in their tanks, only the vault/tanks that they kept imported neons in.
I saw it in every one of my tanks of neons from 3 month old fish to adults.
It was easy to control once I learned to remove infected fish and I learned from farmers in the far east to look for the gold spots on the peduncle. When I pulled these fish that had the gold spots every single one progressed into a full fledged case of neon disease, and it didn't take very long, 4-6 weeks.
I am sure in the wild it is rare. Because water is flowing, any fish infected is eaten by other species before it dies, and the spores are not trapped amongst the other neon tetras.
I believe it is a hazard only in our closed systems.
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Even though I never had it attack any cardinal tetras of mine in my hatchery we do know, despite the myth that they do not get it, that indeed they do.
Hope this provided some insight.
Bill
