NEONS DYING

[Jadels]

Ok recently i went to a LFS and they had neons on sale. I have always been under the presumption that Neons have a tendancy to die because i have never been to an LFS and not seen atleast one floating around.

Well i bought 15 knowing that some would die. Yesterday i did a water change. And i accidently sucked one half way up the gravel filter and then let him go.. but he was already starting to die he was going black around his tail and looked like he didnt have a sense of balance, was kinda floating either side. Then after i filled the tank up he died. I knew it was comming. So i did a head count and noticed i only had 11 neons 1 of which had dies which equalled 4 neons had gone missing.. maybe eaten by a ghost knife or the discus? Then over night another 1 died and this morning i have noticed 2 with the same symptoms and i have had to remove them cos they died.

The water params are ph 6.3, water temp 30C and thats all i can test for :oops: I do 2-3 50% water changes per week.
Tank mates are 1 2.5inch red turk, 1 2.5 inch ghost knife, 1 rainbow shark and 1 small stunted cat fish.

The tank is 70litres with an 800l/hr hang on filter and an under gravel filter, it is planted and i have been putting seachem flourich excel in to kill the blackbeard algae at the recommended dosage.

Please help i dont want them all to die..

[Jadels]

Ok i have just gone and inspected my tank, and the latest victim only has 1 eye... which makes me think that something has definately been attacking my neons.. And then i noticed my ghost knife eating something.. it was a dead neon, i think he has been attacking them at night, then when they die he eats them..

Does this soud possible??

[Robdog]

I wouldn't think a 2.5inch BGK could fit a whole neon in its mouth. I could be wrong though. Mine can fit a full grown cardinal.

Also 30 degrees is probably too hot for neons. They could be showing symptoms of being medium rare.

[Jadels]

Hey thanks for that... maye he is 3inches?? I dont know and am not a good judge. But he just nibbles on them and eats an eye then when they are dead i watched him chomp one up by litle pieces until there was nothing left..

[pbates]

A BGK will definitely make a snack of anything small enough to chomp on.
They do look cute, but they are very effective killers, especially with the lights out.

I've read (pls correct me if I'm wrong) that they are almost blind. They apparently have sensitive regions on their body that can sense the electrical signals from other fishes nervous systems. This allows them to seek out prey at night.

They are also a bit like a cat, in that their mouth is a lot bigger than you'd think from first glance.

[Phlipper]

Yep the BKG will eat them eagerly, they are certainly not compatable, however a small BGK I would think would have trouble in catching them ?
Is it possible that the Neons have a disease ? they are often bred in overcrowded conditions, hence the cheap price, and are prone to dying unexplainedly. One word..........." Quarantine" always !

[marg]

Jadels,

Adult Discus also love to snack on Neons !!.

marg.

[Jadels]

I have heard they are completely blind and are related to the sonar eel and hence send out sonar waves and can feel their way around the tank using those.

I thought about the disease, but some are fine and some arnt.. and it just so happens that all the ones are left are looking happy and healthy. I wish i had of looked more carefully at the first few and seen if they had eyes or not. Because i no the last one didnt it was chomped off and thats why it was kinda floating around funny.

I have heard discus will snake on neons, but i like them so much more then the other tetras.. (sigh) I think they are doomed for dinner and i will just have to live without a school of fish...

From what i understand if a smaller fish will fit in a bigger fishes mouth then its eaten...

[Dee]

Hi Jadels,

One option would be to buy a school of cardinal tetra's, they like the higher temps and grow larger than neons. They are more expensive, but IMO are well worth it, as they tend to show better colours and get stockier than the neons .... just a thought :)

HTH

Cheers,

Dee.

[Robdog]

I think you'll continue to find that the decrease in neon numbers will be directly related to the growth of your BGK.

I've found, the bigger the school, the more he eats, the bigger he gets. The bigger he gets, the smaller the school, the less he can find them as they scatter

[Mulisha]

I had the same problem i added 20 neons and 10 black neons in my planted tank about 1 year ago and there is now 1 black neon left and my pictus catfish is about 18cm long and crazy looking... :lol:

[Jadels]

I dont like the look of other tetras they arnt as pretty. I think neons are doomed in my tank.. I used to have them and then got an XL angel fish who had a quick tucker. Then i finally decide to get more and now i have something else that will eat them. I didnt think the BGK would be big enough to eat them.. But his big enough to take chunks.

[pbates]

I wouldn't bother restocking the tetras unless you get rid of the BGK.
Some fish just don't belong together :)

[Jadels]

i figured that one..

[Waldo]

Neons, don't like parameter changes. Keep the water stable and if at all possible make sure that tention to the top is broken so that a higher dissolved oxigon level can be obtained. If you look through the glass upward when the light is on you might see a milky substance on the tank. a bubble stone will help as will a power head pointed toward the surface hope this helps ;)

[Bill T.]

I reckon cardinals are the way to go.
I have 10 cardinals that are about 2 years old now, in with discus & a variety of catfish.
I had a recent "die off" where about 4 cardinals went belly up - one was looking very fluffy & I couldn't cath it for ages. I treated with myxacin & now all is well.