Neon Tetra Disease - How long does it take to kill?

[lazyNode]

A month ago I noticed this little guy had mouth fungas and some of the other neons had slight finrot. So I took him and all the other neons out of the main tank and put them into a quarantine with salt water and Melafix treatment. 1 week with melafix, 1 week without, then 1 week with Melafix again. Now I'm slowly reducing the salt in the water as the fin rot has healed.

The mouth fungas healed and now he has a big gaping hole in his mouth - he can't close his mouth. I've also noticed white patches on his rear end.

I looked this up and found out about the dreadful Neon Tetra Disease.
I've now put him into a single quarantine - (a tub sitting on top of the water of the quarantine tank.)

I don't have the heart to kill him, as he is still eating and swimming around alright.

Question is, how long will it take for him to cark it? (Aussie slang: to die)

I'm afraid to release the other neon's back into the main tank, for fear that they may have NTD as well, and may infect the other fish.

 

[jessicar613]

The white spots in ntd I believe are just necrotic tissue in the sick fish, so I don't think that's necessarily ntd your tetra has. The white patches in your photo look raised; are they?

 

[lazyNode]

Yes, they are raised and lumpy looking.

 

[lazyNode]

Anyone?

 

[fishcatch22]

I don't think it has NTD, either that or just the beginnings of it.

fish can sometimes live their entire lives with NTD.

 

[phaedraeos]

Is there any way it could be cottonmouth? If anyone else thinks it is, I'll post how I successfully treated that. I had cottonmouth on mollies though, so I don't know how it would look on neon tetras.

 

[NeonJulie]

It looks a lot like one or two of mine. I am still holding out, but I have been researching NTD photos and descriptions now for a few weeks. Mine had a cottony-mouth, and had gone through Maracyn and Maracyn II 5 day treatments, without any real improvement. Actually everything I have tried thusfar have had little to no effect on these strange, lumpy, white patches and cottony-mouth. I also tried a partial anti-fungus treatment, for more than 48 hours with no results either. I have not tried the Tetracycline (another negative gram anti-biotic as well.)

That is interesting that they can live with the disease their whole life. I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about that... these fish have continued to live for at least a month with whatever this us.

I hope this fish is quarantined, (duh of course it is, you said so *lol*), and if it's still eating and living, and not suffering unduly, you might as well observe it. My issues with NTD research so far is that most people are so afraid of this they terminate it immediately. Therefore, I've read every contradicting thing in the book, mainly because people can't confirm if they actually had it or not. At least, that's where I am with my tank. It has essentially become a QT tank, and the fish continue to school and eat, etc. I am thusfar continued to observe and attempt treatments. The treatment at the moment is 3 weeks of clean fresh water changes daily. If they continue to live after that, with no improvement (and indeed I do think at least 1 or 2 have begun to get worse again, white patches growing and getting lumpier), I may try Tetracyline and the full run of Anti-fungus. Because at that point, there's nothing I wouldn't have tried, and I will probably disinfect the tank at this point.

But so far, I have lost only one Neon to it's climbing and getting stuck by the filter. I have no idea whether that was an accident, or what it meant really. I had thought that NTD was responsible for what you might call people's Sudden Neon Tetra Death Syndrome, and a lot of people blame those near-instant deaths for it... but mine just keep living.

Well I'm off track here, but I think if it's quarantined and the others' are safe from possible infection, I would attempt treatments for things it could be, like cottonmouth. I think many people jump to conclusions about NTD (based on the fact that every single ailment and strange movement and loss of coloration and every other abnormal behaviour tends to get blamed for this), and it is difficult to diagnose "False NTD", Columnaris, and a new one I just heard recently, Nodular Disease?

Anyway, QT and see if it responds to treatment. I hope you succeed where I haven't.

EDIT: I'll add that the "raised bumpy" and potential for "things sticking out of these patches" is what I'm guess the cysts mentioned in some of the comments that the fish originally ate, left the digestive track and is now replicating these cysts to pass on to other unfortunates (or something like that), and this actually can be a trait of NTD. (But then again, very few symptoms haven't been attributed to it.)

 

[lazyNode]

Thanks for your advice NeonJulie,

It probably did start with cotton-mouth. But there is no more cotton on the mouth now, just a big gaping hole - like a 2nd mouth (can be seen in the bottom picture)

The lone ranger is quarantined seperatly with 50% water changes everyday.

The other guys will have a seperate semi-permanant Neon Tetra quarantine tank with 50% water changes once a week.

I'll keep observing them, but poor little guys, stuck in a dark, bare quarantine tank with 2 plastic plants. They used to live in a tank with real plants and with other fish.