Is this Neon Tetra Disease (NTD)?

Hi, I noticed a while ago that one of our neons wasn't schooling with the others all the time. Sometimes she'd be schooling, others she'd be hiding under the filter or one of the plants. Couldn't see anything actively wrong with her, water parameters were just fine, so just kept a watching brief. Beginning of this week I noticed that she appeared to have a slight bend in her tail, but as she hardly ever sits still except under the filter where I really can't see her properly it was hard to be sure. It's got notably worse as the week has gone on (now about 30 degrees to the fishes right), and now I think another in the school has the same bend beginning, and when one is being antisocial under the filter theres' often a second and even a third one sulking under a plant.

There's a lot more aggression going on than I've seen before, and the first one to start being strange had a scale pulled out of her head yesterday morning when I checked the tank. They all have good colour and are feeding really well

Feedwise they have a good mixed diet, hikarI micro pellets varied by bloodworms, daphnia, brine shrimp with spirulina, mysis shrimp (all defrosted frozen), peas in garlic, prawn, squash and egg, all of which they LOVE. They also go nuts for the King British catfish pellets I use for the corries.

I dont' know if it was co-incidence or not but while doing a water change this week 3 tetras, including the bent one, got sucked down the tube during a water change. Mind you it was obviously a night for pathological stupidity as the 2 platies in qt and the betta also attempted it.

I'll check my parameters later on in the day, as I need to let the prime clear, but I'm expecting them to be in the 0,0,10ish range.

What is causing this? The only things that I can find that cause these sort of symptoms are poor diet, neon tetra disease and fish tb.

I'm wary of the school up unless I have to as I know that can cause fatal level of stress, and I also can't move anyone to qt at the moment as that is occupied (whole nother story, but I'm a bit stuck there!) by healthy incoming fish.

Ideas on a postcard.....

 

HI octonaut, hopefully you will receive some responses today.

 

would be nice

 

For what it is worth, I have read that neon tetra disease is actually much rarer than people suspect though it does happen. I also read that there is a bacterial infection that has the same symptoms almost, and the main way to tell which is which is that the bacterial infection gets cured by some sort of fish antibiotics whereas ntd does not. I have also read that due to inbreeding and other factors many commercially available neon tetras are very sensitive and weak, and thus prone to disease and don't live as long as neon tetra used to - there was a time when this species was considered hardy, but nowadays many neon tetras commercially available are not hardy.

 

that sounds hopeful. possibly. if I can get antibiotics. what would you use?

I'd suspect inbreeding if it hadn't just started with several fish. plus they are being really antisocial, which points toward sick fish.

Know what you mean though, my Aunt and Uncle had them years ago and they were nigh on indestructible!

 

Here is a link to info about the false NTD, which does respond to antibiotics unlike the true ntd. This article mentions which antibiotic you could use although it seems to suggest that it is available in the US, whereas in the UK it is a prescription medicine prescribed by veterinarians.

 

False NTD is columnaris I would suggest furan-2 or kanaplex or both or triple sulfa to treat it.

 

can't get any of those in the UK either. Stupid regulations

Thank you Joanna and Lunas for the input.

Any idea what the chance of survival/chance of spreading it are?

 

Can you find a "fish surgeon" type veterinarian and get him to prescribe an antibiotic?

 

well if it is Columnaris it is already in the water and the whole tank is already infected the difference is weather or not the fish will catch it some strains of it are more virulent than others and if the fish are not stressed and healthy they should be able to not catch it. What I would do to slow it down a bit is to lower the temperatures to 73-75 it slows the reproduction of Flexibacter. And do anything you can to not cause stress and boost the immune system of your fish feeding them garlic is one thing I would do.

Medicated food containing oxytetracycline, Potassium permanganate, copper sulfate and hydrogen peroxide, Methelyne Blue can also be used to treat infected fish.

 

As neons are so inbred it is next to impossible to find a good source. As the bent spine is happening to many of them I would suspect poor genetics.

I quit buying them because their tails would bend in just a couple of months and the entire school would be lost in just 6 months.

 

As neons are so inbred it is next to impossible to find a good source. As the bent spine is happening to many of them I would suspect poor genetics.

Now that's interesting! that was the same reason I thought it couldn't possibly genetic!

The more I read though, the less inclined I am to think that it is fNTD/columnaris. They don't seem hugely sick, just crooked and anti-social. What's the prognosis on wonky genes?