3 neon deaths within 2-3 months

I've had 12 neon tetras for about 2 years now, and within last 2-3 months I lost 3 of them. I check my water parameters every two weeks or so in my tank with neons (30 gallon) and they're stable, no ammonia and nitrite, but nitrate is always within 10-20 ppm. I perform weekly water changes of about 30%, vacuuming the gravel with each water change. I really don't think there is anything wrong with my water. The pH is also stable, always around neutral (sometimes it will be slightly above or below 7.0). For the last 2-3 months, however, I'd be finding one dead neon at a time, usually sucked against the filter intake tube. It's not the filter's fault, as my neons never had a problem resisting the filter's water flow. What do you think could be causing these deaths? Or maybe neons live that short in aquaria? Or ... could it be my golden algae eater killing them at night perhaps? But I really don't think he's doing that - I NEVER see him chase my neons, not even my angels (which are quite large fish). I don't think the angels are killing my neons either because if they wanted to "hunt" for my neons, they'd eat them and not leave them to float dead, freely around the tank. Any ideas?

 

I'm very sorry to hear about your Neons. :'(

I have six neons and read somewhere that they are meant to live for 5-8 years. I suppose it depends on how old your neons were when you got them. :-\

How big are your Angels? - I've heard that neons shouldn't be kept with fish big enough to eat them. But if your finding them and they haven't been eaten I'm not sure what to say. :-\

I hope your other fish are OK.

Gwenz

 

It could have been the algae eater. How big is it?

 

They could be just old Isabella. Sorry to hear about your loss.
Carol

 

It's OK everyone ... at least my neons had a good life ... short but good, lol. A 30 gallon tank should have been enough of space for them ... and they never starved, had their water changes done, etc ... so at least they had a life, heh

Marc, my golden algae eater is about 4" long. I don't think he killed them, but then again, you never know ...

Carol, maybe they were raised in bad conditions and that's why they're dying young?

Gwenz, I bought them when they were still growing and had them for 2 years. My angels are fully grown and they're about 5" tall (including finnage).

 

I would just say old age if you got them at a lfs and not from a breeder. The quality of neons have gone down that's why they are usually .99 for one.