# I got some neon tetras!!



## aqua001 (Jan 13, 2012)

So, I got 6 neon tetras yesterday. They live in my 10 gallon by themselves. Yesterday, they were schooled tightly together, trying to get used to their new home. Late last night (about ten) I noticed that two of the neons were swimming around almost as if they were night guards while the other four were sleeping. Today, the "night guards" were tumbling over each other, fighting. Could anyone tell me why? My fattest neon seems to wander away from where all the other neons0 are and rub his mouth/nose against the tank's glass, like a male betta that saw another male. I don't think he/she has the neon tetra sickness thing because he/she is very active and when I fed them, she/he ate happily. Is this normal with neons? If not, what should I do? My ten gallon is cycled, filtered and heated. 

Thanks!


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

Well I can tell you that the "rubbing" motion you saw was probably flashing. It's where fish are trying to rid themselves of parasites. It's very common for fish from pet stores to come with illnesses. Now we need to figure out what kind of parasites. 

Do you see any white spots? What about long white stringy poop? 

Also, what temperature is the tank set to?


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## aqua001 (Jan 13, 2012)

The tank temp is 79 degrees. What I did notice was that some tetras seemed to have a very dark body above their blue strip of color. Is this normal? How do I get rid of parasites? The one that was flashing is hiding a lot in the live plants so i'm guessing he/she is sick. I only saw one of them poo and it was not the flashing one. The poo was not like betta fish poo but was more like a little tiny cylinder brown thing.


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

That is a little warm for neon tetra. Set the temperature lower to something like 75F. They come from cooler than your average tropical temps. Any higher than 78F causes them stress as they have to work harder to maintain themselves. 

Ich is the most common aquarium parasite. It's going to look like little grains of sand on their skin. If one has it, more than likely all of them have it. You should try to figure out exactly what parasite (it may not be ich) is affecting your fish before you treat them.


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## aqua001 (Jan 13, 2012)

I don't think it is ick. The flashing one has stopped flashing. S/he is still hiding a lot from the others. Is there another sickness that they might have? Also, I noticed that the neon that is hiding a lot has a spot the has no color in the middle of the blue line that goes across her/his body. Is this just scale loss? Will it grow back? Is there any way I can lower the aggression? The 2 smallest neons chase the others around like crazy. Their favorite neon to chase is the one that was flashing and likes to wander away from the group. Could it be that there is too many males and not enough females?


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

It could also be neon tetra disease. Neon Tetra Disease 

The aggression that you are seeing is due to the small school number not the numbers of males and females. These fish naturally school in the thousands. Once you get the disease issue sorted out, try adding another three or four fish to the school.


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## aqua001 (Jan 13, 2012)

Alright. I think one may have the neon tetra disease. he/she is very skinny, aggressive and does not seem to eat when I feed them. All of them are stressed from something and they all like to hide in the live plants in the corner. Here is a pic. They only come out to eat.


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## aqua001 (Jan 13, 2012)

The first pic is of them huddling in the corner. The skinny possibly sick one is in front of the bridge. 

In the second pic, you can see a reflection of the possibly sick tetra while I was feeding the others.

The third pic is of 5 of them. I couldn't get the possibly sick one to join the pic.


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

If you have ruled out water quality (ammonia and nitrite), if they are constantly hiding in the plants, it could be your light is way too bright and there is not enough cover in your tank for them.

Neon tetra disease is also a possibility, but neons tend to be pretty fragile anyway so it might just be stress related or due to poor treatment at the store you purchased them from.


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## aqua001 (Jan 13, 2012)

I have tested my water and everything was fine. Where can I get duckweed to add some more cover besides aqua bid? I'm only a kid and don't have a paypal account so the places I can get my fish supplies are rather limited.


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

If you go down to somewhere that they sell pond plants, they might sell it there or sometimes it is floating around in the big ponds and containers they store their plants in so you could ask if you could grab a small handful and see what they say. 

If not, ask around on this forum. I'm sure someone may be willing to ship you some if you can find a way to pay for postage. 

You could ask one of your parents to use their credit card and purchase some from an online vendor (not AB). 

If not and you have access to oak or indian almond leaves, you could use those. The tannins given off will diffuse some of the light and mimic the natural habitat of the neon tetras (where they come from it is mostly leaf litter, very dark water and little light).


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## aqua001 (Jan 13, 2012)

Oh... I didn't know that oak leaves work!! Could I put oak leaves and floating plants or will that be too much? How many leaves should I put in a ten gallon? Will the leaves hurt my amazon swords or water wisteria?


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Only thing oak leaves will do is add tannins which may make the light getting to your plants not as bright. However, wisteria and swords should be fine with slightly more subdued lighting. 

Also trust me, your neons will love picking through a leaf litter. I have a leaf litter at the bottom of one of my tanks and my smaller fish spend most of their time swimming around pecking at the leaves and swimming under them. Gives it a much more natural feel I think. 

I have a whole tankful of duckweed and floating hydrilla in the tank with the leaf litter and it's fine. 

I would use enough leaves to cover the bottom of the tank in a single layer. If your water gets too dark you can simply remove a couple. As they start to break down you can just replace them. Hope that helps.


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## aqua001 (Jan 13, 2012)

Ok! So can I just drop some in right now? If not, when will be the best time to put it in?


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

They will float for a while. I usually boil mine as I want the leaf litter look and don't care so much about the tannins (boiling removes most of the tannins although you can then use this as a concentrated blackwater extract). Boiling will make them sink faster but if you don't mind them bobbing around for a few days then you can add them any time you want.


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## aqua001 (Jan 13, 2012)

Alright!! I'm going to put them in now!! Is it ok if they eat some of the leaf?


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## aqua001 (Jan 13, 2012)

Wow... mine sunk with in 19 hours! When will I start to see the color come out? Right now, the tank is as clear as can be.


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## aqua001 (Jan 13, 2012)

Hmmm... still no change in the color of the water and tomorrow is water change day... Anyway, a few questions. How will I do a water change without crushing the leaves? Do I just take the leaves out? Should I add another leaf in after the change so that the water is just as dark? Also, I noticed that there is this white cloudy fuzz on my oak leaves. It is not taking over but I'm wondering what it could be. Is it harmful? How do I get rid of it?

Thanks!


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## aqua001 (Jan 13, 2012)

Still no color change. What is going on?


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Oak leaves probably aren't going to release a heap of tannins. Usually I use them in conjunction with IALs. I only said oak as you mentioned you couldn't purchase online. 

Is there anywhere you know that sells Indian Almond Leaves? They will definitely tint your water. Another option is to use something like mopani driftwood. This will also create a lot of tannins in the water and will last a lot longer than leaves. 

A final but not as cheap option, is to purchase some blackwater extract. While it does little to soften the water, it will darken it in much the same way as IAL would. 

The white fuzz is perfectly normal. I get it all the time. If you have any shrimp apparently they love to pick at it.


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## aqua001 (Jan 13, 2012)

Alright. Thanks!


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