aceigga03

So I bought 10 neon tetra for my 3 week old 30 gal tank...it was cycled and ready to go..I acclimated and made sure all 10 were good and then went upstairs for a nap. I woke up and there were 9....i searched everywhere and couldnt find it. My BF then convinced me that i couldnt count and i only got 9... 2 days later i came home and the missing fish was in the filter intake tube!!! I SWEAR IT WASNT THERE BEFORE! now that i got it cleaned up the tank has a slight odor and amonnia was at 0 is now at like .25. What should I do?

Steve420

Sorry to hear you lost a fish....its odd how we can get attached to them so quickly.

My guess is that the neon had perished PRIOR to getting sucked up into the intake tube. Neons LOVE a nice strong current so I can't imagine that it wasn't able to swim against th current from the filter.
My guess is that you just got an unhealthy fish. Just remember, Neons are super sensative to water conditions and really like well established aquariums.

But imho, having 9 is better than 10. I can't remember where I read it, but I recall seeing that neons liked to be in odd numbers.

(I keep 7 in one of my 10s and 5 in my 55)

EDIT: To reduce ammonia levels, I suggest partial water changes (like 20%) with Prime for about a week or so. That should remove your ammonia levels

flyin-lowe

What method did you use to cycle the tank. Neons are not the hardiest of fish and need a well established tank. It is also advised to acclimate them very slowly. It is recommended to use at least an hour to acclimate them and keep adding water from your tank to their bag during that hour.

aceigga03

^ i used TSS and used the floating bag for the acclimation....my question was where was the fish for the 2 days? lol

flyin-lowe

Was he inside the tube or stuck to the outside of the tube. I have had small fish (years ago) on an old filter I had actually get sucked in and were still swimming around in the top of the filter.

aquarist48

Hello Ace. Congrats on your cycled tank and new fish. Have you thought about adding a sponge to cover your filter intake tube? It will prevent them from being sucked to it and add more space for good bacteria. You can rinse it in siphoned tank water when you do your water changes.
Best of luck! I hope you can share some photos with us sometime.
Ken

jprime84

I lost one of my 8 neons right away to a filter tube too. I dont think it died beforehand, it was just the smallest one. They love hanging out in front of the intake, so I think it got too curious and once it was pulled in it couldnt get out. I have seen the other ones get pulled against the intake once in a while, but since they are large rthey just swim away.