[Lanaquarium]

So.... I was filming my fish eat tonight... as obviously people do.....

Then when I was rewatching the video, I noticed that one of my neon tetras has red gills.

All the tetras have been acting fine. My water params are normal (0/0/5) temp is the same as always.
My last water change was on Friday.

We’ve had these guys just a bit over a month.

But when I saw the video now I’m a bit concerned. I don’t think any of the other tetras have red gills.

Can a more experienced person take a look?
Is he alright?
Do I need to do something before it escalates? If so, what???

Video -

https://i.imgur.com/43myKB0.mp4


Thank you!

 

[Blue Ridge Reef]

Hard to say for sure from the video but I've seen fish in which the gill plate just never fully developed. This doesn't seem to affect them much, but obviously you wouldn't want to use such a fish for breeding. This one seems to eat and appears healthy otherwise, my inclination would be to just keep an eye on her (pretty sure that's a female).

 

[ichthyogeek]

If the breathing is fine (no slower or faster than the majority of the other fish), the fish will probably be fine. We can mark out chlorine/co2 exposure due to you not mentioning gasping at the surface, etc. And you take stellar care of your fish (as evidenced by that fat cory, and well filled out neon), so it seems like nothing to worry about.

 

[Lanaquarium]

Thanks guys for reassuring me.

He seems to be totally fine. Swimming, eating.
No fast breathing or any sort of abnormal behavior. (oh I have seen that when we first got the neons... I think it left me with PTSD to a point where I am now afraid to get any more)

I think the more I look at them the more I notice, even in this mixed school of neon/cardinals individual fish personalities.

I THINK this is the same fish that “goes to sleep early” and I think he was also the same runt neon except now he grew. He just... goes in the plants and goes pale to sleep before all the other ones. I honestly thought he was gonna be done but the next morning he is all colorful and perky and schooling and chasing. But then he is always the first one to go to sleep while the others are still kind of wandering about the tank picking at floaters 🙂

I spend quite a bit of time looking at these fish and it being a new tank and me being a new fish keeper (and never previously having any luck with neons back in the day) I get paranoid easily.

I just really want these little guys to live good lives. They bring a lot of enrichment to my life and I want to make sure, as I do for all my pets, that I do right by them as well 🙂

you wouldn't want to use such a fish for breeding.

Oh I have no intention of breeding them... I know that’s not always up to me with fish. I’m just interested in them being alive and healthy and happy 🙂

We’ve only had these fish for about a month And the tank since mid-June (this was a quarantine side-effect) and it’s my return back to the hobby after almost 10 years. So I have so much to learn still. Breeding fish is not even a topic I’ve researched yet.

I just figured out I have budding staghorn algae lol so if my fish are ok I’m trying to figure how to deal with that now 🙂

(as evidenced by that fat cory, and well filled out neon)

Awww THATS so sweet.
I love my piglets and I am AMAZED by how fast my neons and cardinals have filled out. They were TINY when we got them.

As a guardian of a life, it’s my job to care for them and I try my best. Watching them become little fish pigs is just wonderful 🙂

 

[Lanaquarium]

Fish are friends 🙂

I’m also finding a great interest in Aquatic plants. I’m a person that has “trouble” with plants in general... not a green thumb at all lol

But I’ve been reading and trying and they are doing ok. I think.

My last fish was a long lived red cap oranda so I’ve not had a planted tank since I was a small child (which my parents took care of) so this is literally my first planted.

I am enjoying it so much

 

[Lanaquarium]

I think he passed. 😞
I can’t find him but for 2 days I’ve only counted 13 tetras and only 4 out of 5 neons.

DAMN IT.

 

[Lanaquarium]

Well, we found him.
He jumped.

Either myself or dear husband left the lid open.

While I’m glad it wasn’t a disease, what a terrible way to go 😞

 

[PlantedRich]

Well, we found him.
He jumped.

Either myself or dear husband left the lid open.

While I’m glad it wasn’t a disease, what a terrible way to go 😞

Sad but the death was actually much better than dying from Covid 19 as it was over much quicker and did not require months of pain nor involve the possibility of a lifetime of damaged organs like brain, heart, and liver.
Nature is a mean mother!