# Question for Neon Tetra keepers.



## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

I had bought some yesterday and they reacted fine to the new environment yesterday but one is breathing hard to day. Noticeably fast opening and
closing of the mouth. Could be my imagination on this part but I think
I see that his gills are a bit more red than yesterday. He swims around
the tank periodically but stays in front of the filter intake the rest of the 
time. What's up with this ?


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

See if it continues for multiple days. He might just be stressed. Do you inject CO2? What are your water parameters?


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

All 100+ of my Cardinals breath this way. If this is the first time you have owned them, they do respirate much faster than any other fish I have owned. Just saying that what you may be seeing may be normal.


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## MriGuy85 (Aug 29, 2013)

I had 12 neons at one point. I'm now left with 5. All of the ones who died starting breathing hard like that, then swimming became erratic and loopy. They died within a few hours of noticing these things. Come to find out it was ammonia poisoning.


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## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

MriGuy85 said:


> I had 12 neons at one point. I'm now left with 5. All of the ones who died starting breathing hard like that, then swimming became erratic and loopy. They died within Andre hours of noticing these things. Come to find out it was ammonia poisoning.


They are said to be more than average sensitive to water conditions. I have some ammonia strips(will have to do for now) and they
say it has a color between .25 and .5 in there. I didn't actually trust the strips but combined/w what you said it seems they either
are close or giving a "less than what it actually is" reading. Substrate was just changed so bottom just stirred up badly and dust from
the new substrate settled on some of the bio-media. According to AqAdvisor my stocking level is 72% but the dust could have knocked
out some of the bio-filtering ability. Now I have a chance to test something. I have a container of BioZime.
Aquarium Products Freshwater Biozyme at PETCO
Will test again to make sure I get the same results/w the test. Then I'll add this for a few days in small amounts and test again.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Raymond S. said:


> They are said to be more than average sensitive to water conditions. I have some ammonia strips(will have to do for now) and they
> say it has a color between .25 and .5 in there. I didn't actually trust the strips but combined/w what you said it seems they either
> are close or giving a "less than what it actually is" reading. Substrate was just changed so bottom just stirred up badly and dust from
> the new substrate settled on some of the bio-media. According to AqAdvisor my stocking level is 72% but the dust could have knocked
> ...


Given they are very sensative to water conditions and you have ammonia showing on an inaccurate test(strips) I would do at least a 50% waterchange before anything else.Many "bio boosters " will have an ammonia source in them and that is the last thing you need.


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## MriGuy85 (Aug 29, 2013)

If I were you, I would invest in the API liquid kit. I've been told by others that the strips aren't really worth much. The liquid kit is much more reliable. I'm a noob, so I take what other say very seriously. The being said, I'm also impatient and added more fish before my tank finished cycling. It's still cycling currently. Recently, I went to the Angels Plus website and ordered one of their live foam sponge filters an added it and the water to my tank. The bottled bacteria just wasn't doing anything for my tank except costing me money and adding what I assume was dead bacteria to my tank: an unquestionable source of added ammonia.

My few pieces of advice that came from others on the forum:
1) watch and change your water frequently to keep your ammonia below 1ppm. Your bacteria needs ammonia to multiply and sustain itself. More frequent WCs "could" stall the cycling process.
2) ditch the strips and get the API master kit. This is hugely important!!!
3) changing your substrate, if that's what you actually did, probably didn't decrease you bacteria functionality, it probably got rid of it all together. Don't do that. Keep your substrate, but get a siphon and vacuum your substrate. I've been told to only vac half the tank at a time during water changes.
4) keep in mind the amount of water you change directly affects your ammonia and nitrate levels. IE: a 50% WC will reduce ammonia levels of 1ppm to 0.50 ppm. Same formula for nitrates.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Water change, water change, water change....

Is this tank not cycled? Doesn't sound like it is fully cycled.


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## ArtyG (Jun 29, 2011)

Change your water now! You have an ammonia problem. Make sure you change at least 50% per week. All Amazon basin fish need clean water and lots of it. Fish that have evolved in standing water like bettas, gouramis and all anabantids can take the abuse but not many others.


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## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

jrman83 said:


> Water change, water change, water change....
> 
> Is this tank not cycled? Doesn't sound like it is fully cycled.


"They are said to be more than average sensitive to water conditions. I have some ammonia strips(will have to do for now) and they
say it has a color between .25 and .5 in there. I didn't actually trust the strips but combined/w what you said it seems they either
are close or giving a "less than what it actually is" reading. Substrate was just changed so bottom just stirred up badly and dust from
the new substrate settled on some of the bio-media. According to AqAdvisor my stocking level is 72% but the dust could have knocked
out some of the bio-filtering ability. Now I have a chance to test something. I have a container of BioZime.
Aquarium Products freshwater Biozyme at PETCO
Will test again to make sure I get the same results/w the test. Then I'll add this for a few days in small amounts and test again."[/QUOTE]

This should have explained that it in fact is not fully cycled. Rather by removing some of the bio-media "Substrate was just changed" and
so it lessened the capability of the overall bio capacity. The bottom section starting/w "Now I have a chance to" explains the proposed remedy.
I tested and got the same results as the first time of .5 and then(the directions on BioZime say to use it every day for a week) I used it for 2 days. On the first day after I used it I tested it again before I used it the second time. this time the reading was .25 and then I added
the second dose. On the third day the reading was 0. Of course this was likely faster than the recommended week because the filter still
had it's bacteria and it was primarily the substrate change part which had none. But thank you for suggesting it as it was in fact
partially an incomplete cycle but like I said as a result of bio-media removal rather than a cycle which had not been completed.


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