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I got 10 neons about a week ago. Since then, I have lost 4. They just come up missing without any trace of a body. They are in a 55 gallon with some loaches, 2 pearl gouramis, a pleco and some rasboras. The water is Ph 7, nitrate 5, nitrite 0. All of the other fish are fine. Are neons not very hardy, could they being dying of natural causes, or is it possible that someone else is eating them? I don't want to lose anymore, but I'm at a loss as to why they are dying in the first place.
TIA
Jen

PS. They always disappear overnight. I count them right before I go to sleep and in the morning, one might be missing.

Last edited by jenbabe256 at 06-Feb-2005 15:54

Neons are reasonably hardy when provided with appropriate conditions (deaths usually resulting from bad treatment on the wholesaler's end). With those loaches and plecs, there's little wonder as to why your dead neons aren't showing up...I suppose all you can do is hope for the best.

It so confusing though because the night before they die they will have great color and look healthy, only to have disappeared in the morning. I'll just hope for the best with the rest of them.
Thanks
Jen

You should work in a fish store when they get shipments of fish in. Usually we check the fish as well as we can from the bag, and while they are in the tanks, we watch them. We've had fish died without showing any sign of illness.

Also, your dissappearing neons are most likey being eaten by your other fish at night.

Neons are a VERY popular fish in the hobby, and have therefore been massively bred to meet demand. The majority of them that are found in LFSs are just not very healthy and need to be slowly acclimated from store water conditions to home aquarium water conditions. My guess is that they are dying because either they are coming into the store diseased, or your tank water and the store water are very different. Ince they die off, your pleco will devour the bodies very quickly, ESPECIALLY if they die during the night.

HTH

><>Dani<><

acclimate well by floating the bag for 20 mins then add 4oz of water every 15 mins till the bag has double insize, then dump half the bag water into a bucket and refill with 4oz of water every 15 mins. when the bag is doubled again your done. net the fish and place them in your tank . lights should be off in this process and any water from the bag should be placed in a bucket to be dumped anywhere but into the tank.

another thing to remember is neons are very small fish so minor issues turn into deadly issues within hrs.

Last edited by Sin in Style at 07-Feb-2005 09:08

Thanks to everyone's help.

Sin,
That is EXACTLY how I acclimated them, so I'm not concerned with them dying due to the acclimation process.

I guess, for now, I'll just chalk it up to poor breeding.
Luckily, I haven't lost any over the past night.

Jen

My question would be: What other fish do you have in the tank? Perhaps if you give us a list of your other fish, we could identify the culprit for you.
Neons dont just "Disappear", they get eaten, or dead bodies wash ashore. Check your filter inputs, sometimes dead fish stick to the input where it sucks water in. Also, if you have thick live plants, shake the plants, you may be surprised what falls out.


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