Think Fish Keepers Daily News. [2016-2019]

Sorry to hear that the day has been so awful, with a neon passing and having to euthanise the other one.

Thankfully, the day is not quite so bad as that - the one I thought had passed away of its own accord, as it was lying motionless and semi-on-its-side and semi-upside-down, turned out not to be dead when I tried to lift it out with a net, so it's actually the same fish that was euthanised. Currently, there are still 5 of the neon greens, but for how much longer, I'm not sure.

Cloudy-eyed tetra's entire eye is completely covered in white now and it's quite prominent. Then I noticed something I've never noticed before in my x-rays - a torn caudal fin. Therefore, I decided it was time for a course of eSHa 2000 and I planned to transfer him to the QT. I'd been a bit hasty about the QT's filter's demise and the purchase of a new one - I hadn't realised the filter flow had a turn-down option and it was on the lowest setting so now have it purely for use as a QT filter and ideal for just a small number of fish. Anyway, suffice to say that those tetras are impossible to catch in the net. I had volunteers from both rasboras species but the tetras are too clever at escaping. So, if he hasn't succumbed by the next water change at the end of the week, I'll make another attempt to catch him then for treatment when there's no decor in the way.

It feels like I could do with a period of calm in the fishtank... No-one would ever believe that my water quality is 0,0,20 consistently!

You might be needing to drink some of that vodka yourself.

Indeed - I might just do that! I also plan not to look into the fishtank again this evening, for fear of what else I might discover.

For me a torn fin is not an excuse for quaranteen... interested to get views on this. I just do extra water changes for a period to ensure  best possible water quality.

I'm starting to wonder if my approach is a bit old school...

For me a torn fin is not an excuse for quaranteen... interested to get views on this.

It's more the fact that the entire eye is cloudy now and protruding considerably, while the torn fin (caused presumably by the almost incessant male sparring with the blind-eyed tetra) was "the final straw". Years ago, my goldfish developed a white covering over his eye which started protruding towards the end, among other problems - my biggest regret still is not having used the Waterlife Myxazin which had been underneath the tank as I think it had developed into a secondary bacterial infection but didn't know enough back then. I was assuming the same might be happening in the case of the x-ray tetra. The tetras are behaving as though constitutionally well, though, so if best not to bother quarantining, happy with that - it may well be that, following treating the fish in quarantine, the cloudy eye would just recur immediately on the first spat with the blind-eyed tetra in which case it would be relatively pointless (as was the case back in ?May and the cloudy eye has been present ever since).

Glad to hear that 

Now I just need me to settle down too - I think my heart skips a beat every time I glance into the tank and see a piece of green plant/foliage against the filter intake, then I let out a sigh of relief when I realise it's not a neon green rasbora!

I have had a surprise.

I have done a water change today, and decided to lift the wood with Bolbitis attached, which I don't usually do because the plant is so big and floppy. Underneath the wood was a pygmy cory  I thought they had all died, but no, I still have one left 

Consulting my book, I moved 7 cories from the 50 litre tank on 20 September 2016. These comprised 2 remaining from a group bought 21 September 2015 and 5 bought 27 August 2016. I can't remember now but presumably the two bought in 2015 were a lot bigger than the ones I'd bought only 3 to 4 weeks earlier.

Since they were moved into the main tank I have found a total of 3 bodies and one skeleton. The last body found was 16 July this year and I had assumed that was the last one. There are still 2 unaccounted for, which I've always assumed died and were consumed, and the skeletons fell apart so I didn't recognise what they were during a water change.
The trouble is I have so much wood in this tank that bottom dwellers are impossible to see.

Great news!!! 

Any plans afoot to restock with them? 

I think the bororas also fit in with the Asian theme. 

In my tank today, the neon greens have finally realised that chopped pea is food. I tried it in the QT a couple of times but only one seemed to realise what it was and the rest were too slow before it fell to the substrate, which they don't eat from.  Today, however, I fed it for dinner as I noticed 3/5 neon greens were constipated - whether that had anything to do with it or not (ie they instinctively knew it would cure their condition), they seemed to know immediately what to do when the chopped pea fell in and there was much excitement all round. The harlies normally get excited by it but, goodness, this neon greens' behaviour was on a whole new level.

I have no idea why I thought they were south American 

I think it's very easy to see fish of similar size/stature as naturally compatible in a tank and consequently the fact that they're from different regions blurs into a less important characteristic - that's my theory on it, anyway. 

The neon greens have assumed the uppermost strata of the tank, relegating the harlies to the strata immediately below that, and the x-rays much lower down. Therefore, the neon greens get first pecking order at the food. On this occasion, I don't think it was learned behaviour from the harlies, unless the harlies got excited on hearing the chopping sound (which is altogether very possible) which pre-alerted the neon greens to food-time, or possibly more likely the neon greens have learned what lid-opening usually means and were going to eat whatever dropped in, whether it was edible or not.