Ill Looking Tiger Barb!

[LikkleFishy]

I've had 6 tiger barbs for about 3-4 months now, and they're about 3-4 centimetres long
The tank is 160 litres, and the water is fine.
But just today one of the tiger barbs has been hiding underneath a log and not moving much whatsoever.
Yesterday I introduced a few fake plants and logs to them so I understand they should be a bit stressed whilst getting used to their new surroundings. Every one except this one has settled in well know and are back to their normal routines, I don't know whether it's stress or the build up to an illness. There are no clear signs of an illness and when it goes for a little swim (mainly for food) it looks normal and I can no longer tell them apart. When I was feeding them flakes this morning I was aware one of them was spitting out it's food, although cannot for sure say that it was the one in question. I've never seen it like this and it really isn't normal, any suggestions what this is?

And also I was planning on purchasing some more fish tomorrow, is this still a good idea?

 

[Colin_T]

don't buy any fish until you sort this problem out.

It isn't normal for a tiger barb to hide under a rock or wood and they rarely if ever refuse food. There is a problem in the tank and it needs to be sorted out before anything else goes in there. Otherwise you will end up wasting money on dead fish.

Have you checked the water quality recently?
When was the last time you did a water change and gravel clean?
When did you last clean the filter and how did you go about doing it?

 

[LikkleFishy]

I checked the water quality yesterday and today, both times were fine.
Did a water change and cleaned the sand on Sunday.
Cleaned both filter pads thoroughly on Sunday in water syphoned [sp?] from the tank during the water change.

I suppose I shouldn't have said 'hide', she more... rests? Lots of the time other fish come up to her and in a way persuade her to swim around and swims as fast and normally as the others. Something that we were wondering about earlier was if that she could be pregnant, as all the males were being pretty active and chasing the females around, etc.. She doesn't look ill, it's just odd and may be a build up...

 

[Colin_T]

if it is a female she might be getting bullied and just be taking shelter under the wood. Male tiger barbs get a red nose females don't.
It was more the spitting out of food that concerned me. Unless the fish is really full tiger barbs generally don't refuse food.
Just keep an eye on her and see what happens over the next few days.