HUGE Bellied Neon Tetra

Hi everyone! A couple days ago I noticed my neon tetra has a HUGE belly. I’ve tried fasting and peas but it only seems to get bigger. I don’t think it’s pregnancy cause it is the only neon tetra in the tank (not ideal I know, but the others passed in a surprise PH spike) and its mouth is moving rapidly (gasping?). It is a 30 gal at 77 degrees with albino cories and a dwarf gourami. Does anyone know what’s going on with its belly? Thanks!!

 

Sorry, but that looks a lot like dropsy to me. I would probably euthanize because at this stage, the fish can't be helped.
You could try fasting and feeding him daphnia (peas don't really help with dropsy), but if that doesn't work, euthanizing would probably be best.

 

Sorry, but that looks a lot like dropsy to me. I would probably euthanize because at this stage, the fish can't be helped.
You could try fasting and feeding him daphnia (peas don't really help with dropsy), but if that doesn't work, euthanizing would probably be best.

Oh no! Will the other fish be okay? And do you know how he might have gotten it?

 

Poor water quality

 

Poor water quality

I change the water about 15% every two weeks. How should I adjust/improve this?

 

Hard to tell but you should be testing the water to see what the quality is. And maybe a once a week water change of a bigger % if the quality comes back bad.

 

I change the water about 15% every two weeks. How should I adjust/improve this?

What is your stocking and what are your water parameters?
Weekly WC 20-30% are a good base.
Depending on your values you may want to adjust further.

 

What is your stocking and what are your water parameters?
Weekly WC 20-30% are a good base.
Depending on your values you may want to adjust further.

I have two albino cories, that tetra, and a dwarf gourami. I been on a time crunch lately so I haven’t been able to care for them as dotingly as I used to. I’ll try to fix the water change and hopefully this will prevent the other fish from falling sick. Thank y’all!

 

Oh no! Will the other fish be okay? And do you know how he might have gotten it?

Bad water quality causes it.
The other fish should be fine as long as you keep your water clean

Hard to tell but you should be testing the water to see what the quality is. And maybe a once a week water change of a bigger % if the quality comes back bad.

I would do 50% weekly to prevent this from happening again.

 

Id say lack of water changes caused this. As everyone else said pump them up to at least 20% a week.