Tressa

Hello. I'm a first time poster and I have a question I hope someone can answer.

I have 5 neon tetras that have been doing fine up till yesterday. They are in a 5.5 gallon tank with some live plants in it. Two of them started to act funny, as in they look as they they are choking and swimming almost vertically in a jerky manner. I've quarantined them and when I woke up this morning they were fine. I fed both tanks and they were fine. They still eat as normal. As it started to get later in the day, they started to act up again, with the jerky movements.

I've read a bit on neon tetra disease and was wondering if this was the cause.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Tressa

Lucy

Hi Tressa, Welcome to Fish Lore.

Is your tank cycled? What are your readings for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates?
What are you using to test the water?

One of the symptoms of NTD is having trouble swimming. Do they have any physical symptoms like a pale spots?

Chief_waterchanger

If it were neon tetra disease there should be a marked color loss.

-What is the ppm (parts per million) on your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate?
-How long has the tank been setup?
-What, if anything, is in the tank with the neons?
-What chemicals, if any, do you put in the water?
- Are you on municipal water supply or well water?

Tressa

Thanks for the quick responses. My tank is cycled. I've had this one for a couple of weeks. The first one I had became too small and I had to get a larger one. Other then the live plants I have in there, I have gravel. As for the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, I haven't tested those yet. That may the problem. I do use Aqua Safe water conditioner because I have municipal water, but I have never put the fish in there directly after using it. I usually wait about a day before I put them back in. Sometimes, I do use purified water that I buy as well.

As for the color, they're still the same bright neon colors that they were when I bought them.

clinton1621

Since youre saying that you changed tanks, I'm going to say that youre assuming this 2 week tank is cycled because you transferred everything over... however if you didnt transfer the filters and gravel properly you may have killed a lot of the bacteria, or if the tank is larger it will require different bacteria levels... in which case you are probably going through a mini cycle which is quite common after a major change in even the oldest of tanks. That would be my guess as to why the neons are acting weird, they are VERY sensitive to ammonia and nitrite... you really need to test the water asap to see where your readings are.

Tressa

I'll be sure and do that. Thanks.

Tressa

Well, I've tested the for ammonia, nitrate and nitrite. Everything seems okay, but the nitrite is at a 3. What would be the best solution for bringing that down?

clinton1621

You need to do 50% daily water changes until the nitrites drop all the way to 0 ppm and the nitrates start to rise... this will mean your tank is cycled back to normal

Tressa

I'll try that then. All this has been extremely helpful. My fish and I thank you!

clinton1621

Not a problem at all

OzzyFan

I've got the same problem with my neons...sometimes they swim horizontally and other times they'll do that jerky head-down motion...and yes, both of my tanks are cycled. If the readings for nitrates and so on were bad, logically ALL the neons would be doing this, but it's often only one or two who do it. I want to know the reason why the fish do this. I can only assume they're trying to swallow something big, or are suffering some neurological disorder that only shows itself sometimes.