Can't keep neons alive

[Maxwell]

Hello fellow fish keepers!

Looking for some sage advice regarding the well being of my remaining neon tetras and the rest of my stock. Over the course of a year my neons have died off slowly, one by one. What was once a healthy shoal of 11 neons is now down to only 2 individuals. Yesterday I noticed that one of the remaining neons appears to be bloated. Bloating, along with a curved spine, has been a common theme among the other dead neons. This sounds like neon tetra disease but I haven't kept fish long enough to be certain of my diagnosis. I have previously treated with prazi pro and erythromycin but apparently neither of those seemed to cure the problem. I'm curious whether this die off is common among neons or is it something that I should be actively trying to cure? I have only lost one white cloud and one rasbora to similar symptoms, the rest of my fish appear healthy and active. Do I need to be concerned about the other species even though the problem has been primaly with neons? I bought all the neons at Petco because they were cheap (rookie mistake), is it possible I got weak fish? Info that might help: the tank is 40g, water temp is ~80 degrees (high for GBR pair), and I do PWC at least once a week.

I'm all ears, thanks!

 

[Cory]

What are the actual water parameters? pH, alkalinity, and nitrate specifically? Seattle water tends to have very little minerals in it and can lead to curved spines if no source of calcium is going into the water or in their stomach via foods.

 

[flamechica]

I had this same issue with guppies several years ago. My research came to the conclusion that it was either bad breeding or not enough nutrients in their diet. I started paying closer attention to the store I was getting them at at the time and noticed that some of the fish at the store had bent spines too. So, I gave up on guppies, since at the time, that was the only place that I knew of that wasn't petco/petsmart to get fish.

 

[Maxwell]

Thanks for the feedback. Nitrate is less than 20 ppm, GH is 75 ppm, KH is 40 ppm, and pH is around 7.0. I primarily feed frozen bloodworms and daphnia, and mix in brine shrimp and cyclops a couple times a week. I rarely use flake food. Hope this info help and thanks again!

 

[whtknightgdhart]

seems to be related to the frozen foods, if water parameters are ok. if you check other forums the common link is the frozen fish food. I feed mine high quality flakes and they are thriving! some are nearing 2 years and no die off except a few young ones being eaten by large Angels.

 

[marctheshark]

I also had a hard time with neon's, but i agree that that is a lot of frozen food for a small fish diet. They don't need that much protein, also, by feeding specialized dry foods they can have more stand outish colors and more energy. Your TDS also sounds a little low, but maybe its just me, being a shrimp keeper. I haven't had tetras in a while :/

 

[Maxwell]

Thanks for the advice, it never occurred to me that I may be feeding them too much protein. I was advised against feeding a primarily flake food diet in the past to help reduce algae and avoid the possibility of flakes going rancid. It seems I may have cut back on the dry food too much so I will try feeding a better balance of dry and frozen.

 

[Cory]

Well rounded diet does best. I look at dry foods like taking vitamins. They are packed with vitamins but can go rancid if they are not used up within the month or so.