Painted tetras doomed?

[OneWolvesDream]

i have a 24 gallon fishtank with 2 painted tetras and 3 neon tetras and i am planning to get a bottom feeder. now i heared somewhere that painted tetras would die young because they were ingected with dye. will they die slowly of cancer? because i have had mine for aout a minth and they are verry happy. i have had no probolem with them. so are the fish boomed to die of cancer? please help... i am verry attatched to my painted tetras. one has an orange looking back and the other has violet. please help.

[OneWolvesDream]

oh and they are not a neon type of color it is a strait forward orange and more of an indago color

[RTBShark(II)]

ive looked up painted tetras and it seems that, yes, yr fish are dyed although i am not perfectly sure. I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but if yr fish are dyed, then they may hav lost some of their protective mucus and may get diseased. according to what ive found, the color shud disaper after a while; i do not know how long. on the bright side, though, i do not think that fish which are dyed are suseptable to cancer. however thay r records of dyed fish dieing young; since yrs r happy, i cud not tell when they may go. I hate the practise of dying fish, bt i dont blame u 4 buying these fish at all. If anyone can, i would prefer it if wat i had wriiten here cud be proved wrong, it STINKS when yr fish die.

Although I know the feeling, please be careful of the language. This is a family type forum. Thanks.

[t_chelle16]

Yes, painted tetras/glassfish are dyed. And the process leaves them with a weakened immune system so it is highly likely they will get an infection and dye before their time.

Go HERE for some good info on dyed fish.

Personally, I would love to have some glassfish, but I was never able to find any that weren't dyed and I refuse to buy dyed fish.

-Chelle

[OneWolvesDream]

omg! are you serious! i cant believe it! i am verry attatched to these fish! they are the only two that survived and never got ick aka white spot disease when the rest of my neon tetras where contaminated. i never knew of s**k a thing as dying fish. i am verrrrryyyy attatched to all types of fishes. infact i was goint t start a save the fish program. i have had my fish a while now and they seem to be verry happy. they are alive and whild (lol) all the time. how can you tell if the fishes may be dying soon and how can you try and sve the fish, lik get the nessisary chemicals to save them. please help i am verry saddddd

[tina1]

Ok, slooooowwww, down. Be calm, breathe.... If your fish are not sick right now there is no need to introduce chemicals into your tank in an attempt to fix them. You obviously care very much for your fish and if you keep them healthy they will live a fine life just like any other fish; just shorter that's all. Eventually your fish will lose their dye and they will look like any other normal albino tetra/glass fish. Before any of us knew better my sister kept painted glass fish. Hers lost their color after about six months but lived to be about two years old.

Don't give up on your fish just yet. It is unfortunate that this cruel practice takes place but the best thing you can do for your fish now is to provide them with a clean, disease and stress free home.

Also, with many fish that get near their time to die there isn't any warning. You'll probably just wake up to them dead one morning. They're just like people in that medications and treatments can only do so much to prolong their life and however much we are attached to them, they do have a life span and will eventually die.

I don't know what your set up is like at the moment but I'm a big advocate of adding live plants to tank. This can help reduce stress and simulate a fish's natural environment. Fish that live in tanks with lots of live plants live longer and better quality live. You will also be rewarded because your fish will display lots of natural behavior that might not be exhibited otherwise.

Good luck with your fish, it's nice to hear from someone who is so concerned about their well being.

[OneWolvesDream]

thanks, that helped allot, i guess the best thing to do now is just stand by and help for the best. well my fishtank has coral at the bottom that i put fake yet real looking plants in them so it appears to look very natural.....will that be ok? because i have lready spent allot of money on curing my neons ick desease and i have bought salt for freshwater fish so im hoping that that will work.

thanks allot!

if anyone has any other advice, all is appreciated.