rob5495

Hi everybody. I've only been keeping fish for a few months and would appreciate any ideas as to why one of my neon tetras has lost the colour from its tail. The body is still blue but there is no red pigment in the tail. He was red when I got him about 8 months ago and has been like this for a couple of weeks. He seems ok in himself, he eats and swims around like the other 11 neons in the tank which are fine. Any ideas please?

pinkfloydpuffer

Hi rob, welcome to FishLore. Is your tank cycled?

Lucy

Hi rob5495
Welcome to Fish Lore.

It would help the members if you gave a little more information.

How big is your tank?
Do you know what your readings are for ammonia, nitrItes and nitrAtes?
Have you added anything new to your tank recently?
Can you post a pic?

I just looked at my neons, their tails aren't red. The red streak stops at the base.

I hope he's ok, good luck

rob5495

Hi Guys, thanks for the response. My tank is 60 litres. I have 10 neons, 4 female guppies, 2 male guppies, 4 mountain minnows, 2 little orange ones that i can't remember the name of and a little aquatic frog. My tank has been up and running for about 8 months and I do regualar partial water changes. My readings are all ok according to the test strip. I've had no recent additions. When I say the tail has lost colour, I don't mean the tail fin, I mean the end of the fish that is normally red. Sorry i'm still quite a novice at this! All the other fish seem fine so I think the water is ok. It's just the one neon and apart from the colour loss he seems fine. I've downloaded a picture of the fish so you can have a look. Thanks

Attached Images

DSC01817.jpg (293.4 KB, 27 views)

pinkfloydpuffer

Hmm... is the coloring constant, or does it seem to change throughout the day?

rob5495

It's constant, he's been like that for a couple of weeks at least

pinkfloydpuffer

Hmm... I've never kept neons, and since you think it's not a water quality issue, I don't think there's much more that I can think of. Hopefully someone else who has kept them will be able to help.
Sorry I wasn't much help.
Good luck though.

rob5495

Thanks anyway. After 2 weeks of being like this I don't think he's going to go belly up on me!

Jess

Hi Rob, good clear photograph, I think you're right, somethings up. If you look carefully it seems as though his spine is crooked? It looks like his tail dips down and doesn't finish off straight like his companion? Could it be a birth defect?
I've seen this in my older neons, but I'm not sure what it is. (I only have cardinals now)
Maybe someone else has input?

rob5495

Hi Jess, thanks for the reply. Did your affected neons survive? What happened with them?

Lucy

Poor thing. You might want to google neon tetra Disease.

Good luck.

Fishies-for-me

I was also thinking neon tetra disease....I have never seen it but I know fish lose color with it..I thought it was the neon stripe tho....anywhooo....good luck.

Lucy

It can effect the blue strip, but I think it depends on where the parasitic embryos start to burrow internally and create the cysts.
The effected muscle tissue starts to turn white and in the latter stages, the spine can begin to curve, that's what made me think of it.
Although you're right, the pics I've seen they've lost their blue strip.

It might be a good idea to put him in quarantine just in case because NTD is highly contagious.

rob5495

Hmmm. Just read up about NTD and it does sound quite possible even though he still swims fine. Just looking now I've noticed another one starting to fade at the end of the red. I don't have another tank so I can't quarantine. Do you think I should euthanaise these 2 for the benefit of the rest just in case? If so, what's the best way?

Lucy

Only you can decide if euthanasia is called for. If you search the forum, there are threads regarding how to do it.

If you don't have another tank, do you have anything you can use? Most any clean container will do if you can keep the water warm and clean.

rob5495

I have a 20 litre bucket thar I use for conditioning water for tank water changes, I would just need to buy another heater. Thanks for your help Lucy.

Lucy

Your welcome, I do hope it's not NTD and they recover.

Jess

No Rob, they didn't make it. Very discouraging. I didn't know of this site and was very new to fish keeping. I hope you have luck with yours.

Nicely posted Lucy. : )