# Black neon casualty in cycling tank



## BlackOut (Jul 13, 2011)

I have 8 black neon tetras in my 55 along with 8 plants. I went to feed them this morning and one of the neons went straight to the surface and started swimming around the tank in a vertical position for about a minute before falling to the bottom. The other guys seem to be fine, they're still swimming and schooling normally.

Went straight for the API test kit, there's definitely some ammonia present. It has a slight green tint to it but I would say that it's definitely less than .25ppm. Why aren't there smaller increments? At any rate it's about the same as yesterday, it doesn't appear to have risen or fallen.

Nitrites and nitrates are both negligible, ~0ppm.

The tank has only been set up for about 5 days, haven't done a water change yet. Thoughts? Should I do that asap, or does this just appear to be a sick fish?


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Sounds like you're progressing normally. Neons are not the best fish to cycle a tank with. Hopefully, that will be your only casualty. .25ppm is not what I would call a level to do a water change with a cycling tank. But since these fish are a little delicate, if you get as high as .5, I'd do a water change to bring it below.


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## BlackOut (Jul 13, 2011)

Okay thank you! I went with the black neons as they are supposed to be one of the hardiest tetras. I'll keep checking and make sure ammonia doesn't get too high


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## NeonShark666 (Dec 13, 2010)

If your Ammonia readings is good, it isn't high enough to cause problems with your fish. I am concerned your Nitrate readings are zero, you should be getting something. I don't believe in frequent water changes during cycling. The bacteria populations you are trying to generate to start the Nitrate cycle need Ammonia and Nitrite for food in order to thrive and multiply. Wait and make water changes at the end of cycling to take out the excess Nitrates. Your Tetras should not be sensative to the Ammonia levels you are generating.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Wait when you have fish in your tank during the cycling process and soon enough you'll loose your ammonia source, meaning all your fish will be dead. When it comes to fish-in cycling forget the cycle and do what you need to save the fish. Doing water changes during the cycle may delay it, but at least you will not have just flushed the fish down the toilet. Plus, it may delay completion 4-5 days, tops.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

How long has the fish been in there.

any nitrItes.

what are just before lights out pH and kH values?

Any peat moss in the substrate?


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## BlackOut (Jul 13, 2011)

There were no nitrItes when I checked. The fish had been in there for about 3 days, four now. Can't give you lights out values until the night, but last time I checked the pH was ~7.6. I'm not sure how to check the kH? And yes, there is sphagnum moss under a layer of sand.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

BlackOut said:


> There were no nitrItes when I checked. The fish had been in there for about 3 days, four now. Can't give you lights out values until the night, but last time I checked the pH was ~7.6. I'm not sure how to check the kH? And yes, there is sphagnum moss under a layer of sand.


sounds good.

sometimes I will lose one or 2 of the original fish load. Might just be a weak or sick fish or two.

I also put in one fish for a week with no food being added the first week. Then stock up the second and start light feeding.

But one time the wife started a 10g with water conditioner, plants, with 6 neons and 5 glo fish. All was setup in a few hours. We did lose 1 fish the next moring so IMHO it was close. But to my surprise all the other fish lived for over 2 years.

As long as the tetras are active and living there is no real need to measure kH. So more for information at any rate. That said you use a kh kit. And api also had a combination kh gh kit which would be nice to know as well.

Both work be adding reagent until you get a color change. The number of drops is the degrees hardness. On my tanks with peat moss kh stayed at 4 degrees and gh at 9 degrees for over 2 years. With just play sand kh and gh rose to very high values and neon tetras did not survive.


my .02


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