20 Gallon Tank Sunken belly, sick Neon Tetra?

Tank
What is the water volume of the tank?
20 gallon

How long has the tank been running?
About 2 weeks

Does it have a filter?
yes

Does it have a heater?
Yes

What is the water temperature?
unknown. Feels neutral when I put a finger in

What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.)
8x neon tetras
2x adult cherry shrimp
5x young cherry shrimp
3x berried cherry shrimp

Maintenance
How often do you change the water?
ive changed almost every day since adding then fish and shrimp, due to the ammonia not being processed

How much of the water do you change?
Minimum 25% max 50%
What do you use to treat your water?
Aqueon Water Conditioner

Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water?
I don't have a vacuum, I have a small container that I scoop the water out with then use to add it back after by hand.


*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish?
I tried, but it seems it didn't cycle... I didn't have test strips until after the fish were added due to shipping errors.

What do you use to test the water? API Freshwater Master Test Kit
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.
Ammonia: .5
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
pH: 8~8.2

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? Every other day
How much do you feed your fish? A small pinch
What brand of food do you feed your fish? Ill just include pictures of the foods I've added
Do you feed frozen? No
Do you feed freeze-dried foods? I do not know

Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish? ~ 5 days
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms? Today.
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms? Fish has a sunken belly and tilts forwards (head down) while resting on the tank bottom very often.
Have you started any treatment for the illness? Do not know what to treat with
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase? I do not know
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all? I think I took note that one was skinnier then the rest (sunken belly) but the laying on the bottom is new

Explain your emergency situation in detail.
(Please give a clear explanation of what is going on, include details from the beginning of the illness leading up to now)

I got 8 Neon Tetras and a handful of Cherry shrimp this week, and I've been watching them all and just noticed this one tetra that has a sunken in belly has been sitting at the bottom of the tank and not schooling with the rest. Its not a constant behavior, but enough to be concerning.

The rest of the tetras seem to be doing okay, they swim up and down the tank, schooling together and are quite lively.

My water parameters aren't the best they could be, my tank didn't get cycled very well, but I still keep the ammonia below 1 PPM and have a heater in there. Its a 20 gal. How long before I should be concerned? I don't have very much spare cash at the moment, so if I need to medicate I need to know asap!

I have old medication gifted from my brother from when he had a Betta, including Maracide and expired API General Cure

 

The pH of your tank doesn't suit Neon's, your tank needs to be acidic below pH 7 for Neon's to do well.
Besides that, these fish were not well 2 weeks ago when you bought them. There is no need to treat your tank with anything.
Make sure when you buy fish you have the correct parameters in your tank before introducing them.

 

Yes, I know about the PH, I haven't found a place to get the treatment for the PH yet. My city's tap water is especially hard and has crazy high PH... is there anything I can do right now with what I have to help him? He seems like he's suffering...

 

I have no plan for you, other members on your side of the world will be able to help, hopefully. I am surprised the LFS's would sell Neon's in your area.

 

It wasn't a LFS, the guy I got them from was a hobbiest. He was selling his setup and I needed his heater, but he just threw in the fish and shrimp for free because they would die without the heater and who was I to say no to free stocking! I guess ill wait until morning to see if anyone here can help, thanks

 

Neons are commonly sold and kept in hard water; my understanding is that they are even bred in hard water. The discussion of whether this is a good/advisable thing is a whole different ballgame, but I doubt that the fish's illness is primarily caused by the hard water (though it could of course be a secondary result of long-term stress caused by this).

Not sure that I can help unfortunately. Does anyone else think the fish looks like it has having more of a spine problem than sunken belly based on the picture? That is what I see...

 

These may have been older fish when you received them

Neons are commonly sold and kept in hard water; my understanding is that they are even bred in hard water. The discussion of whether this is a good/advisable thing is a whole different ballgame, but I doubt that the fish's illness is primarily caused by the hard water (though it could of course be a secondary result of long-term stress caused by this).

Not sure that I can help unfortunately. Does anyone else think the fish looks like it has having more of a spine problem than sunken belly based on the picture? That is what I see...

Are you saying that Neon's are being bred in tanks with a pH of 8 or so and in hard water.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if they were bred in hard water around here, seeing as the tap water here is very hard. Last owner didn't treat for PH which is why I wasn't worried at the start, they're used to it by now

 

I wouldn't be surprised if they were bred in hard water around here, seeing as the tap water here is very hard. Last owner didn't treat for PH which is why I wasn't worried at the start, they're used to it by now

I don't think any Neon's will have been bred locally

 

Update. He passed today, I went in to check and he was gone. I noticed after my water change today he did a barrel roll, then got stuck in a corner for a good 10-20 minutes... he also didn't get a single piece of food during feeding today as he wouldn't leave the bottom of the tank. Hopefully whatever he had isn't contagious, and the rest of my tetras stay healthy... RIP Nôtre, you shall be missed.