Tetras not doing the best

[JamezMan]

Hi guys. Over the last few weeks or so I have noticed my Buenos Aires Tetras in my 4x2x2 foot tank aren't doing the best. 1 has popeye but is still eating and swimming as usual, 1 is a bit deformed in its body shape, and others have a little bit of scale damage on their sides. I used to have around a dozen or so 6 months ago but they have slowly dropped down to 6 at the moment.

Everyone else in the tank, which consists of Eartheaters and L numbered catfish, are doing great but for some reason these tetras aren't too good. Do you guys have any ideas why this could be?

My water parameters are:
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - Varies between 15- 25ppm depending on what day of the week it is.
pH - 7.35
Temp - Approx 26-27 degrees celcius
KH - 40ppm

I change 50% of the tank's water weekly and do not overfeed this tank either. The tank has been up and running for a few years now so it's not a new system.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Regards, Luke

[JamezMan]

Any ideas?

[Priscacara]

Not sure on what the reason is unfortunately. I had similar with neons and eventually had just a few left. They also had malformed mouths so its possible it was genetic defects. The scale damage could be bashing into things if they panic or being chased. If I remember the Buenos tetras should be a decent size so less chance of the eartheaters wanting a snack and probably too small for the cats to be having a nip? I loooked up popeye on google and suggested reasons include water quality, contaminants if something had recently been added to the tank and inury leading to infections........................possible tie in to the missing scales if they were scared or chased causing damage.

I'm very much a novice so please do more research if you can or some of th emore knowledgable may have more suggestions.

[JamezMan]

Thanks for your reply. Yeah the tetras are quite a good size and should be too big for the eartheaters or catfish to bother. The eartheaters consist of leucostictas and argyrostictus and I have never seen them being harassed by them in the whole time I have had the tank so I don't think that would be the source and the catfish are way too slow for tetras aswell.
The water quality doesn't seem to be a problem either but someone more experienced than I might be able to comment on my parameters? I guess contaminants is always a possibility but no new fish have been added recently and no other fish bar the tetras have been effected.

[ILLUSN]

NEON TETRA DISEASE, NO CURE, SORRY

[JamezMan]

Ok thanks Illusn for your reply. Neon tetra disease ay. Is it a common ailment?

[ILLUSN]

It's more common then you think. It's an ongoing chronic infection that makes the fish more sudeptible to thee infections. The tell tale sign is the spines going bent then they seem to get mouth fungus or body fungus that won't go away they can also get lesions along the body and become susceptible to popeye and dropsy

[JamezMan]

Okie dokes. Well thankyou for telling me about this Illusn because I probably wouldn't have come to that conclusion without your help. If they are swimming around and eating well what do you think I should do with them in your opinion?

[ILLUSN]

tetras get hit hardest by this disease especially as they get older, id just let them live out their days, protozin works on the secondary infections but they will relapse over time, your other fish should be ok

[JamezMan]

Ok thanks Illusn, I appreciate your advice.

Luke

[Oonallee]

Oh bugger sounds like mine have the same thing. Is there any reason it develops?

[ILLUSN]

Reasons are age/ stress also sometimes it comes in with new fish they arn't long lived fish only expect a few years from them mine never last more then a week with the altums :)

[JamezMan]

Can it pass on to cichlids or catfish?

[JamezMan]

Can it pass on to other cichlids or catfish in the tank Illusn?

[ILLUSN]

technically it can but generally in my tanks it doesn't, the organisum that causes the disease is Pleistophora Hyphessobryconis, it produces cysts inside the tissue of fish, if your fish are healthy and your tank well maintained the immune system of your fish will keep it at bay, as they get older it can be more of a problem.

[JamezMan]

Ok thankyou for your info. The fish that are in the tank are probably 18 months old at the most, so they are pretty young fish and are still growing, so at this stage I will leave them where they are.

[JamezMan]

I ended up trying to take the tetras out of the tank cause I just didn't want to risk it and man they are hard to catch! lol. I caught 3 of the 5 but the whole tank was stressed and I gave up trying to catch the other 2, for today anyways.

[JamezMan]

All the tetras are out of the tank now Illusn and I was wondering, is it safe to put anymore new tetras into the tank? Is there anyway to make it safe for any new fish?

[JamezMan]

Anyone have any ideas?

[Nev]

Sorry I can't help.
Paging illusion.

[JamezMan]

Sorry I can't help.
Paging illusion.

Thanks Nev. Tthere's no huge hurry but would like to know so I can add new fish in the next few weeks.

[ILLUSN]

give it a few weeks then add some new ones. make sure you quarentine all new fish to make sure they're disease free.

[JamezMan]

How long would you recommend quarantining new fish for?

[ILLUSN]

At least a month. You should do that any time you add new fish to s system

[JamezMan]

Okie dokes. Thanks Illusn I will do that.