# Cardinal with Neon Tetra Disease



## grant48 (Sep 18, 2011)

I have read that Cardianals are less susceptible to Neon Tetra Disease than Neons are, but I have a Cardinal with classic Neon Tetra Disease - bands of color loss, cysts/bumps appearing etc. I have isolated it to a separate 5 gallon tank and dosed it up with recommended anti-parasitic medication - just hope I caught it in time to prevent spread to my other neons & cardinals. Looking on the black side, if I do lose the whole school, can anyone recommend other schooling fish that can resist this nasty disease? I do already have 6 harlequins that seem very healthy so could increase those I suppose, but if tetra's are out, I would like alternatives too.

Also, I am not sure of the life cycle of the NTD parasite - how long should I wait before considering re-introducing more neons or cardinals?

Thanks!

Grant


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Any fish in the Tetra family can get the disease, even Angel fish. I wasn't aware there was a med/cure. Only option was to euthanize from what I have read. I have lost a few from it.


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## grant48 (Sep 18, 2011)

Yes - I know that treatment is a long shot but I had an empty tank anyway and thought I had nothing to lose by trying. It is difficult to tell but the affected fish doesn't appear to be suffering too much, but if it looks much worse I may have to put it down. The moral of the story is to use quarantine tanks before introducing anything into an established aquarium - I am not sure where the disease came from but the tetra's were fine for a few months without any symptoms. It must have been traveling on plants bought recently from a LFS - they were mixed in with fish too.

Thanks,

Grant


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## apaiari (29 d ago)

Both cardinal and innesi tetra neon usually are collect directly from the nature, and all fishes collected in the wild have some parasites. The parasites are normally in a small quantity and controlled by the body's defense system (totally harmless). 

However, before we purchase they already traveled a lot and arrive weakened (both innesi and cardinal are sensible fishes). Additionally, long travels are specifically harder for small fishes as tetras, because their body is not big enough to absorb oscillations of temperature, ammonia, transportation boxes shaking, etc. This is the perfect condition to internal parasites to prosper and grow to a point of no return. The majority of them survives this journey, but they become infested of parasites. So, if the seller does not properly quarantine them (and they usually don't), you are potentially introducing a small parasite bomb in your tank.

I lost many discus because I didn't properly quarantine my tetra neon cardinals. Instead of just keeping them isolated for 60 days, I tried to accelerated the quarantine with meds and it was a terrible mistake. For some reason the anti-parasites don't work properly in this condition (maybe because they are already too sick). It is also hard to see with our naked eye if the little tetras are sick or not. So my advice is to keep the tetras quarantined for 60 days. Don't waste money on potentially useless meds. Those tetras which are already sick will die (it is REALLY hard to dot not lose 20-30% of the new neons in the first month) and the healthy ones will be ready to safely add beautiful colors to your tank. 

Another advice is to buy 30-50 tetras at once. Their waste load is really small and they live much better in a bigger shoal. They tend to concentrate the shoal in a small location of the tank, so they don't occupy a significant space either. The bigger number will help them to prosper and you already have an extra quantity to compensate those that will die in the first 60 days.


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