Dee of CNY Posted January 14, 2021 Share Posted January 14, 2021 Hello, My question is Do Fish Show Old Age, particularly neon tetras? I have a 40 gallon freshwater tank with about 14 community fish: white skirted tetras, neon tetras, a Chinese algae eater, and a few hatchet fish. Some of my fish are over 6 years old. One of my neon tetras has a bent spine exactly like that shown in Corey's video, "The Truth About Neon Tetra Disease". It also no longer has eyes. I thought it was because of the advanced age of the tetra. It still eats and seems to manage. Corey mentioned NTD is often wrongly diagnosed & over the years I have had one or two other neons get the bent spine but no other symptoms so thought it was just old age. Do fish show their age this way or is it suffering from NTD and I should I euthanize it? (I do not have another aquarium to quarantine it.) No other fish show these symptoms. Any help will be much appreciated!! Thank you very much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrozenFins Posted January 14, 2021 Share Posted January 14, 2021 This is by the Michigan State University and shows how different fish show their age. They don't go too in depth in what fish but they specifaclly talk about blue gill https://www.canr.msu.edu/resources/determining_the_age_of_fish_e1774 It talks about counting the growth of the rings called the anuli, I think all fish show this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dee of CNY Posted January 14, 2021 Author Share Posted January 14, 2021 Thank you! That is really quite interesting! I'm wondering about age causing a fish's spine to bend as arthritis may in a human. The neon is so tiny, I can't really see the scales to that extent. I appreciate that bit of info though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted January 15, 2021 Share Posted January 15, 2021 Do the fish have lighter patches of scales on its body developed any cyst have difficulty swining if so I think your dealing with neon tetra disease Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dee of CNY Posted January 15, 2021 Author Share Posted January 15, 2021 Hi Colu. Thank you for your reply! It definitely has paler blue scales on it than the other neons. The blue area is now more silver. It swims okay just not much - probably because it cannot see. Would you suggest removing it from tank? I check multiple times each day to make it's still alive. I dont want the other fish to eat it when it dies and become infected. I also feel bad euthanizing it if it's just old age. 😞 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrozenFins Posted January 15, 2021 Share Posted January 15, 2021 9 minutes ago, Dee of CNY said: Hi Colu. Thank you for your reply! It definitely has paler blue scales on it than the other neons. The blue area is now more silver. It swims okay just not much - probably because it cannot see. Would you suggest removing it from tank? I check multiple times each day to make it's still alive. I dont want the other fish to eat it when it dies and become infected. I also feel bad euthanizing it if it's just old age. 😞 I would suggest to remove it if you have a empty tank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dee of CNY Posted January 15, 2021 Author Share Posted January 15, 2021 Ok, thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted January 15, 2021 Share Posted January 15, 2021 If it has no eyes and is sick I would euthanize you have to think about quality of life at the end of the day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dee of CNY Posted January 15, 2021 Author Share Posted January 15, 2021 Ok, I was hoping I'd find out these symptoms are normal for fish in their old age. Thank you so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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