I don't know whats happening to my neon tetras! (Read All)?

Question

Well just a little while ago, my neon tetra died and I did everything I could to save him, but he died. I suspect its Neon Tetra Disease or Ich but not all the symptoms are the same so you can't be sure.

The water was tested since I brought a sample to Pets Mart they said it was fine.

I'm also sure I didn't overfeed him.

So I got home from a sleepover and I checked my fish. Another Neon Tetra- dead! I have a feeling the last two are going to die! ( I started off with four because this is a newly set up aquariam)

I let my tank cycle and I've only have had my fish for a bout 4 day. I'm going to clean out the tank, but I have a feeling the rest of the tetras are going to die too! What should I do, and whats happening to my tetras?

Answer 1

neon tetras are not easy to keep at all, they are one of the hardest fish to keep especially if they are young/very small.

with very young difficult fish i add a bag of live daphnia as this helps them settle in as they swim around chasing and eating....

do not trust pets at home/petsmart, go to a decent local fish shop, they specialise in fish - dont use or buy from petsmart or your fish will die!

try easier fish like phantom or emperor tetras

Answer 2

Most likely stress... neons, well, all tetras should be in a school of at least 6... but safer is 8 or more... so get some more until you have eight and then see how it goes... i think it's a security  thing.... and if they don't feel secure, they die from stress.

Answer 3

Ok, I think you have cycling wrong. if you just leave a bunch of water sitting in a tank it will not cycle. You need a source of ammonia. try testing the ammoni every day and the nitrite and nitrate. The ammonia will spike and once it does back down to zero the tank is cycled, this usually takes a month or so. What are the stmtoms, what did the fish look like b4 they died??

Answer 4

When you say that you let it cycle do you mean that you had it set up for about 4 weeks and added an ammonia source, did water tests everyday and didn't add any fish until all the readings were good or that you set up the tank and let it run a couple days just full of water and the put some fish in?

If it was the second one then the fish are probably dying from ammonia poisoning.  You don't mention how large the tank is either.  A small tank (under 5 gallons) won't hold a cycle and needs to be treated as a bowl with cleanings every 3 days.

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Answer 5

Neon tetras are supposed to be really hardy fish but I had a lot of trouble with them too.  There wasn't anything wrong with my tank or anything either.  Sometimes the stress of being shipped to the pet store and then moved to your tank can be enough to kill them.  Check with PetsMart to see if they have a guarantee, Petco guarantess their fish for two weeks.  Try leaving the light on at night as the fish are more likely to die in the dark for the first little while.

Answer 6

maybe  its the filter or your heater temperture