# Neon Tetra; Eggbound or bloated



## InfiniteGlory

Can't tell if fish is male or female. So not sure if fish is bloated or Eggbound

The picture with the bulldozer is from tonight, the others are from a month ago. I'm pretty sure it is the same fish









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## Pranshukhare

I've never kept neon tetras but I'd say that you quarantine it ASAP.
In the course of this month, how have you been feeding it?
What are your water parameters? 
Are the other tetras okay?
Can you see pineconing ?(aka do the scales around her abdomen where she is inflated seem to protude from the skin?(Google it to see what I mean)
For now do this, I'll write a little more later


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## Pranshukhare

Is the tetra active?(like does it feed and seem to swim about freely like it used to earlier when it was not inflated?)


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## RussellTheShihTzu

She has eggs. She will drop them eventually. Nothing to worry about. They can look like that for months or forever if they just drop a few at a time.

Have not seen you in a while. Good to see you back. Tank looks gorgeous!


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## Pranshukhare

RussellTheShihTzu said:


> She has eggs. She will drop them eventually. Nothing to worry about. They can look like that for months or forever if they just drop a few at a time.
> 
> Have not seen you in a while. Good to see you back. Tank looks gorgeous!


Great to know that they seem to be eggs. I've never kept neon tetras myself, but I've heard that getting a female gravid is a feat in itself.
However, isn't dystocia potentially life-threatening? 
(Not trying to scare you, just asking).
The tetra might be too small to manually squeeze the eggs out.
An Epsom salt bath (one quarter ounce of Epsom salt +three quarter ounces sea salt/ rock salt). (One ounce is approximately two heaping teaspoonfuls) should do.


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## RussellTheShihTzu

It has been my experience the females always look that way or some degree of that way. Note she is larger in the first photo than in the last ones which indicates she is occasionally releasing her eggs which is normal.

There is no need to treat. And Epsom Salt will not cause them to release their eggs.


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## InfiniteGlory

Well, glad to know she was egg bound. I lost one female the other day, but still have one left. The other three are males and doing fine.

As far as I can see all of them are acting fine. Eating and swimming normal.

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## RussellTheShihTzu

Neons are a lot more sensitive than most realize. If the parameters are even a bit off so are they. For years I could not keep them long because our water and pH were way too high.

I would try to find more females so she is not harassed by the males. That can cause stress and death, too.


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## InfiniteGlory

I didn't know I had females until recently. First one started getting big and then the second one did. All my research says I have all males. The research i did showed that males have a straight bright blue line down the body while females are supposed to have a curved and muted blue line

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## InfiniteGlory

RussellTheShihTzu said:


> It has been my experience the females always look that way or some degree of that way. Note she is larger in the first photo than in the last ones which indicates she is occasionally releasing her eggs which is normal.
> 
> There is no need to treat. And Epsom Salt will not cause them to release their eggs.


When you say first photo, are you referring to the one with the yellow bulldozer? That is the most recent photo, the other close up pictures are older. Kind of looks like she is larger today than before

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## Pranshukhare

Epsom salts will help relive some of the distress that accompanies being egg bound. 
It might be unnecessary if the fish is releasing eggs, but it will only help.


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## RussellTheShihTzu

Oops. I did, indeed, get it backwards. But both are normal for a female Neon.

However, there is still no firm treatment for egg bound fish. Some say exposing to males triggers release; some contend fasting for several weeks causes the female to absorb the eggs to keep from starving; some say "yes" to ES while other say it has never worked for them.

This is not a female Guppy; it is what an egg bound fish looks like. Close to how my egg bound female Betta appeared.


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## Pranshukhare

RussellTheShihTzu said:


> Oops. I did, indeed, get it backwards. But both are normal for a female Neon.
> 
> However, there is still no firm treatment for egg bound fish. Some say exposing to males triggers release; some contend fasting for several weeks causes the female to absorb the eggs to keep from starving; some say "yes" to ES while other say it has never worked for them.
> 
> This is not a female Guppy; it is what an egg bound fish looks like. Close to how my egg bound female Betta appeared.
> 
> View attachment 958024


 I agree. There is no surefire treatment for egg bound fish. (Probably except for manually squeezing the eggs out in larger fish, but that requires a bit of knowledge of the fish anatomy. Also it's not applicable in all cases).


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