Fishes eye is missing

[hailskins]

i have a 10 gallon with 3 tiger barbs which were introduced first.... 2 female and 1 male.... and then i introduced later 2 rose red barbs..... 1 male 1 female. I noticed that with the two female tiger barbs one was smaller and one was a little fatter. The fatter one was constantly picking on the smaller one and the male would jsut hang out in the corner of the tank and not do anything. Eventually the smaller one didnt swim to the top of the tank for food or for anything for 2 days straight.... im not sure if its because her fins were getting nipped or she was sick.... but i came back from class to find her lying dead on the bottom. Later that night, i noticed that the other female tiger barb that was still alive has a bunch of white spots all over her and one of her black stripes was discolored in the middle. When i looked closer she only had 1 eye on her head and a hole where the other eye should have been. The male tiger barb has a couple of spots on his tail fin and thats it. other then that all 4 of the fish in my tank are very active. what the hell is goin on and what should i do because im a beginner and i need help.

 

[hailskins]

1 more thing, i have not changed the water since i set up the tank and i dont have a test kit for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate etc. levels.

 

[RandomWiktor]

The fish with the eye that has been injured should be moved into a hospital tank with aquarium salt, something like melafix for the tissue damage, and a treatment for what sounds like Ick. The other fish sound like they are getting Ick as well and will need treatment. You need to do water changes of at least 25% weekly, even in filtered tanks, possibly moreso since yours doesn't sound like it has been cycled. You should check your ammonia/nitrite if a fish died for seemingly no reason; you could have elevated levels.

More fish knowledgable people here can tell you more but thats the best I've got for now.

 

[Mr Miagi]

Well. it wil be pretty difficult to say because you dont have any test kits, so we cant say if your water is bad. But i reckon it might have something to do with it. I would do a 40-50% water change today, or now, there may be some nitrite or ammonia in the water. If u can, prchase some test kits and test ya water.

But personally, i would get rid of the rose red barbs, sell them back to the lfs, and buy three or four more tiger barbs to put in. They need to be in groups, and i fear the bullying may have caused a weaking of the fishes ammune system and now they are contracting disease.

 

[WILDER]

Do an immediate water change, and take a sample of water to the lfs and tell them to write the readings down, buy some test kits so you no what's going on with your tank, or you will gradually lose them all to poor water quality, fish can survive with one eye.

 

[bluebelle]

Absolutely get rid of the rose or ruby barbs you have. They are so aggressive, I think they belong with bigger fish myself. I had four of them, and they were holy terrors to even the gouramis who were four and five times their size. Ended up with a whole tank of sick fish from ick. The tigers are good, but believe me, they are not nearly as fast or active as those rosy barbs you have. If you want tigers, put somehting else in with them. Or put them some where else, and get more rosy's. A tank of half a dozen rosy is a very active tank. Constantly on the move. Tons of action to watch. I have found my rosy's are the most hardy of the fishes also. They went through three bouts of ick with the other fish, and not once did they get it, while the rest of the tank suffered. I think they are just so fast, and do not lay around on the bottom, or stay still long enough for the ick parasites to attach themselves. Even the free floatin ick is no problem for this breed. Good luck. I did eventually have to put the rosy's in a tank by themselves though, so as to safe the rest of the fish.

 

[sylvia]

First things first - the fish in your tank are far too active for a 10 gallon and rosy barbs (if they are what I think) get too large anyway. Barbs also happen to be schooling fish and need to be in much larger groups. The general rule is one inch of ADULT fish per gallon. However, in a 10 gallon and when you are just starting out, you won't want to get anything just yet that grows to over 2 inches or that is aggressive. As such, your current fish will have to go. There's no compromise with this, I'm sorry, you will just have to return them or get a bigger tank.

Now, you desperately need a test kit. I'm not sure of whther you know about cycling or not but, if you don't already own a test kit, I doubt you cycled your tank before adding fish. If your tank has not been set up for over 6 weeks (with the fish), it will not be cycled. This means that there will be high levels of ammonia and nitrIte in your tank - both of which are deadly.

I suggest you read through all the links in my signature. If you do not know about cycling, let me know, I'd be happy to explain.

Also, please, please do water changes every 3-4 days with DE-CHLORINATED water until you know for certain that your water parameters are within reason. An un-cycled tank is highly toxic to your fish and, though it may not kill them now, it will deffinately have long-term effects on them and they do not deserve to suffer.

If youd decide to take my advice and return the fish you have now, I suggest you then look into fishless cycling. Otherwise, a couple of platies (both male) are hardy fish and excellent for starting out. Please look into fishless cycling first.

Oh and for treating your current fish, get an ich medication. The fish with the injured eye cannot be treated in the main tank without disrupting the cycle as you may need to use antibiotics. As such, either get a seperate tank and set it up for quarantine (a search should show up threads with what you need) or find an LFS that would take it.

Good luck! read the links in my sig.