Golden Barb Looking And Acting A Bit Sick

[lukestanislaus]

One of my 2 golden barbs has been looking under the weather for a while now and yet the rest of the tanks inhabitants seem 100% fine
im not really sure if something is wrong or maybe this one isnt getting the food or something, when i bought them they were essentially the same size and i couldnt tell them apart, whereas this one is smaller and skinnier now and is less active with poorer colouration

jsut not really sure if i should be doing something or not


1. Water parameters. (ammonia: ~0, nitrate: ~0, nitrite: 7-8, PH: 6.8, temp: 26, Hardness: no idea, i would guess pretty soft)
2. A full description of the fishes symptoms.
Significantly less active that the other golden barb. significantly thinner and with less bright colours
3. How often you do water changes and how much.
10-20% every week, i recently moved the tank so took out most of the waters but i filled it with water from another tank and old water, the fish looked sick before that anyway and none of the other fish have suffered any ill effects
4. Any chemicals and treatments you add to the water.
i ad the dechlorinator when i put new water in
5. What tank mates are in the tank.
4 1 other golden barb, 4 yoyo loaches, very small bristlenose plec, harlequin rasbora, a golden gourami, none are aggressive at all to other fish apart from in-group chasing among the loaches
6. Tank size.
~23gallon
7. Finally Have you recently added any new fish?
no

pictures:
the sick(?) one is the one at the back with the head obscured, as you can see the other one is much much fatter, it is also more active and has healthier looking colour than the other one
http/img91.imageshack.us/img91/1679/p1010292uy7.jpg
better picture of the body shape of the sick one
http/img246.imageshack.us/img246/1817/p1010289ld5.jpg

 

[Miss Wiggle]

is the fish eating ok?

how long has it been like this?

 

[lukestanislaus]

it eats fine, with energy

its just gradually getting worse looking but recently (last week/2weeks) its been more prominent to the point where i think theres probably something wrong with it

it also tends to open its mouth more than the other one like its gasping or something, i probably exaggerated its lack of activity, its not lying on the ground or whatever, just not moving around as much as the other one,

 

[Miss Wiggle]

has the fish previously been through any trauma, e.g. a cycling tank, outbreak of disease, poor water etc?

we have one angelfish who has just seemed to draw the short straw, anything and everything that could possibly go wrong has happened to that lad, he's now stopped growing even though he's in a massive tank and gasps a fair bit. I believe he has sustained damage to his respiratory system due to one of the problems he's been through and the lack of oxygen to his muscles stops them developing and therefore stops him growing. he eats and is active so we've decided to leave him as he is for now, if his condition worsens and he seems to be suffering more we will have to euthanaise him. I doubt if he'll ever reach his life expectancy, probably got a year or so more in him and he's maybe 3/4 now.

anyway not nescessarily the same as your problem but something to consider

 

[hogan53]

Have you got your nitrate/nitrite readings mixed up? That could be the problem.

 

[WILDER]

Yes I thought he got his stats mixed up.
How skinny is the fish.
Check the gills to see if there red and inflamed, or pale with excess mucas on them.
Being pale and thin can be flukes.
Check the anus of the fish to see if its enlarged or red and inflamed.
Wiith flukes the fish will sometimes spit there food out.
Anys signs of fish flicking and rubbing on things in the tank.

 

[lukestanislaus]

My stats are accurate, and like I said the rest of the fish in the tank seem to be fine (Including another golden barb) so if the stats were mixed shouldnt all the fish be sick?

Wilder its pretty skinny compared to the other one, it doesn't have a round belly, it has sort of indentations on its sides (as opposed to the smooth round belly of the other golden barb) so I that probably makes it look malnourished (You can see this in the first photo), if you look at the pictures you can probably get a reasonable idea of how much skinnier it is compared to the other golden barb. The gills don't look a lot different although maybe a little redder, they aren't as flush with the sides of the fish but that might be because the other fish has a fatter "neck" area. The anus looks ok as far as I can tell

Ms Wiggle that fish hasn't been through any particular trauma apart from general moving etc, I moved the entire tank a week ago and I put the golden barb in a bucket for an hr (with a heater) with the other fish then refilled the tank with 50% old water, that golden barb was smaller than the other one even then. It's possible that like your angelfish, this one is just sickly and not as healthy as the other one, it has always been with the other golden barb

I'll put these pictures up as well as a short video of the sick golden barb, and a video of the other golden barb to compare

Sick Golden Barb
http/www.youtube.com/v/uCV_vXeZCtQ

Other Golden Barb
http/www.youtube.com/v/fXTGPx5Cijw

 

[WILDER]

Think the fish might have flukes then they can waste away with them.
Any flicking and rubbing.

 

[lukestanislaus]

No flicking or rubbing, it tends to move pretty slowly or just hover in the same place for most of the time and seems to be always gasping

 

[WILDER]

Hard to say, I would issolate the sick fish and keep a close eye on him.

 

[lukestanislaus]

For how long? I don't have a separate quarantine tank so the only way to do this is do put is in a container and float it in the water to keep the temp up. Isn't this kinda cruel?

Is it likely to be contagious keeping in mind its been degenerating for a while now and no other fish are affected?

any kind of treatment i should administer?

 

[WILDER]

I would try a wormer on the fish.