# Neon Tetras mysteriously dying



## renren (May 20, 2016)

I started my tank about a month and a half ago, and I've got 6 adult guppies and 6 baby guppies, 6 neons (1 probably won't live past the night actually and another seems to be getting sick as well), 3 balloon gold rams and 2 otocats. My tank is a 30 gallon planted tank, and it's done cycling (checked ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels today and got 0 for both ammonia and nitrite, 10-20 for nitrate... did a partial water change afterwards). My neons however have been dying off mysteriously for some reason... I started out with 10 and last week I lost 4 in two days. 

I added the 3 balloon rams, 3 otocats and 3 tetras around June 25th and they were ok for a while... I did lose 1 otocat but I assume it was because of stress. My balloon rams quite possibly has Ick, so I'm turning up the heat, adding a bit of aquarium salt and I'm getting Ick attack tomorrow to treat it, but I'm really not sure what happened to my tetras though  They kinda float vertically or on their side for a bit and then they'll wiggle back into swimming mode. 

Can anyone help?


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

Your tank may be cycled but it is still new. Neon tetras are sensitive fish to begin with, not a good beginner fish. The otocats will also not do well here. They require a very mature tank, which you do not have. What temperature are you keeping the tank at and where did you buy the neons?


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## renren (May 20, 2016)

My tank naturally sits at 79F because the tank is up on the second floor of my house and it's really just that warm in my house. The neons I got originally were from Lucky aquarium at market village, the new ones added were from Big Al's Scarborough.


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## tomsfish (Jan 8, 2010)

Adding new fish from any source without proper quarantine is not a good idea. I would stop adding new fish and simply observe what is going on with your fish. Stress will definitely be a big factor as that can easily lead to disease and eventual demise of fish. Try to maintain fish with similar temperature and food requirements. Hope everything works out.


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

The fact that you do not have a heater is a big issue. The temp in the room and the tank will change throughout the day. You need a heater for neon's. That is likely a big problem for you.


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## supadean (Jul 26, 2007)

Make sure you're doing weekly water changes and that the water chemistry of your tank is good. 

+1 on the heater.


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## nature (Jun 8, 2016)

Also see thread I just posted in the beginner's circle forum. If your parameters seem fine but fish are dying, take water samples from different parts of your tank especially those areas farthest from your filter. I used a dropper to suck up the water from a specific spot. If filtration is inadequate and you are not getting enough water circulation you could have different values in different areas of the tank.


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## todortonchev (Jan 1, 2015)

Another possible issue is that you have added too many fishes at the same time. For sure there will be ammonia spike, if not already.
I had similar issue.


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