# Neon Tetra's Columnaris? NTD?



## flowerslegacy (May 10, 2011)

These neon's are a few weeks old to my tank. They were perfect when QT'd and purchased. Then one of their tail's (not fins) started turning from red to completely white so I QT'd it. Pic attached. Then I started to notice that a couple of them had ragged fins. This includes the dorsal. They appear white at the ends, but at a closer look, they don't look like they have any cotton like substance attached. At first I assumed it was from being nipped or something. However, they fins look like they're splitting vs. being bitten. They don't look like they have fin rot either. Thanks for your help!

1. Size of tank? 25 gal

2. Water parameters
a. Ammonia? 0
b. Nitrite? 0
c. Nitrate? 30ppm
d. pH, KH and GH? 7.2
e. Test kit? Yes

3. Temperature? 78

4. FW (fresh water) or BW (brackish)? FW

5. How long the aquarium has been set up? 4 yrs

6. What fish do you have? How many are in your tank? How big are they? How long have you had them?

6 Featherfin Rainbow
3 Pygmy Cory
5 Zebra Loach
They're all adults but small breed fish. I've had the cory's and one of the featherfins for 2 years. The rest are a month old.

7. Were the fish placed under quarantine period (minus the first batch from the point wherein the tank is ready to accommodate the inhabitants)?

They were QT'd by the LFS. They QT's all their fish before they hit the floor. High reputation store. Purchased all of my fish over the years and never had a disease in my tank.

8. a. Any live plants? Fake plants? 3 fake, 1 big live anubias (it grows & blooms)
b. Sand, gravel, barebottom? Gravel
c. Rocks, woods, fancy decors? Any hollow decors? 1 cave, 1 big rock, lots of hiding places

9. a. Filtration? HOB
b. Heater? Yes

10. a. Lighting schedule? What lights are used? One at 8a off at 6p
b. Any sunlight exposure? How long? Indirect

11. a. Water change schedule? Weekly to every 2 weeks.
b. Volume of water changed? 50%
c. Well water, tap water, RO water? Tap water w/bottled water to keep ph down.
d. Water conditioner used? Prime
e. Frequency of gravel/sand (if any) vacuumed? Every time

12. Foods? Spectrum, baby brine shrimp, sinking shrimp pellets
How often are they fed? 1x day at night

13. a. Any abnormal signs/symptoms? Swimming & acting normally.
b. Appearance of poop? Normal
c. Appearance of gills? Normal

14. a. Have you treated your fish ahead of diagnosis? No but they're all QT'd
b. What meds were used? None

15. Insert photos of fish in question and full tank shot if necessary. 



Read more: http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/...orm-read-before-you-post-61135/#ixzz2aUMd80Tf


----------



## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

Looks like nipped fins to me. Not uncommon with neons.


----------



## flowerslegacy (May 10, 2011)

Thanks jaysee. This is my second batch of tetra's since I got into the hobby 5 years ago. I don't know much about them. The one with the worst fins is most aggressive. I wanted to go back and get more but my tank is already max'd out. Any idea about the neon whose turning white? It's the 2nd pic posted.


----------



## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Sorry I got your message a little late, flowers. Uhm . . . you may want to remove the neon who is turning white to a quarantine tank for a while because it's possible he could have neon tetra disease. This is a protozoan that, despite the name, can target many different kinds of fish and one of the signs is when the color starts fading out. There is no treatment and it is contagious.

On the other hand, if the color has already come back (like the fish lost color from stress temporarily), no need to worry. 

I miss my neons. They were funny little fish.


----------



## flowerslegacy (May 10, 2011)

I actually put them all in QT since I purchased them at the same time. With the one guy turning white and the other with the ragged fins, I didn't want anything in my main tank. I've googled a million times and I can't find one other neon pic w/the ragged fins. I don't know if it's a fungus or nipping. All the fins have the same issue. I went on to a few fish med sites and they all reccommended Acraflavin MS. I happened to have some so I'm dosing. Not sure what else to do. If anyone has other input, I'd love to know. I think I'm going to euthanize the white guy. I'm in agreement that he has NTD. At this point the others probably do too, but I don't have them heart to put them all down without knowing for sure. They're all swimming and acting completely normal.


----------



## Sakura8 (May 12, 2011)

Acriflavin will work if it is a fungus but there aren't that many funguses (fungi?) that we encounter regularly in the aquarium. Saprolegnia is pretty much it and it usually looks like dandelion fluff and occurs at the edges of open wounds. 

There's always a possibility the ragged fins are nipping, unless they're in individual quarantine, with each fish separate from the other. Other possibilities are external parasites that can do fin damage and a bacterial infection.

If you have the acriflavin, you can try it. Another thing you can try that is sort of non-medicinal is methylene blue. You may also want to try one of the "fixes," ie Melafix or Pimafix.


----------



## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

Still looks like nipping to me  In my experience they can be very nippy with each other.

If it were NTD you would be starting to see losses.


----------



## flowerslegacy (May 10, 2011)

Thank you both! I haven't seen any death or strange behavior from any of them. Not even the guy that's turning white. I've had them now for about 3 weeks and they all went through a few weeks of QT (w/kanaplex) before I even got them. I've now had them in QT for over a week and on Acraflavin for about 4 days. Poor guys, they're being dosed to death! I would suspect some sort of issues at this point, especially if it were NTD (like you said jaysee). I'm going to start the process of removing the meds from their QT water and getting a closer look (Acraflavin turns the water neon green & you can't see them very clearly). I saw one of them nip a dorsal fin the other day and I thought that was so strange. I guess I thought nipping was only a tail fin issue. Ha! I learned another new thing!


----------

