Neon Tetra Disease

[ArkyLady]

I have some neon tetras that I got about 4 months ago. I didn't quarantine them because I setup a new tank (fishless cycled) just for the tetras and some panda cories that I added all at the same time.

Everything was fine for about 5 weeks, until I noticed one looked ill. So I started researching diseases and discovered that he most likely had NTD (his colors were very faded out, though he wasn't swimming funny and didn't have a curved spine yet). There is no real cure for NTD, so I euthanized the fish in hopes I could stop it from spreading to any of the other fish.

The problem is about every 2 weeks or so, I have another tetra with the same symptoms. I just had to put another one down today

I read that NTD is a very slow killer, but it just seems weird that it's just one fish at a time with so much time in between them. Has anyone else had any experience with NTD? Is this how it progresses normally? Or do I maybe have something else going on in this tank I should look into?

 

[fishface]

what soft of things was ur neon doing? 1 of mine has been swimming down after eating 4 about 3 hours or so am i over feeding? that serious? they loss there colours at night if thats when its happening they get them back in the morning.

 

[ArkyLady]

No, these are severely faded. It's not really in an exact stripe like the very few pictures of NTD I've found, but not sure what else it could possibly be.

My neons do the swimming face down bit after eating as well. Apparently they get air in their tummies while gulping up the food at the surface. I started putting their food in a small glass of tank water for about 2 seconds then dumping it into the tank. This made the flakes float down into the water and they don't do thier little face down swimming dance anymore. I guess they are just pigs

 

[fishface]

oh, that should help ill try that out the next time i feed them my brothers tiger barbs do the same thing ill tell him thanks. sorry if it is ntd the first time i got my neons about 3 of them died for no reason but the 4 i have now are great.

 

[tetra girl]

NTD is a slow killer my neon lived with it for about 2 weeks before he finally died

There is no cure for NTD although i have heard of some people using an anti botic to try and slow it down. All the materials I have read here say that NTD is not contaigous and that it is believed to be caused my imbreeding. Of course research may have changed but i have never had a problem with my other neons getting the disease.

how old are your neons? there life span is quite short - about 1-2 years being the average now. Its a shame that all your neons seem to be deveolping NTD though.

Theres nothing i can suggest to do as it is uncurable.
I'm really sorry that they are dieing. I hope you get some survivors!