Need help with my barb!

FishForums.net Pet of the Month
🐶 POTM Poll is Open! 🦎 Click here to Vote! 🐰

Jax2192

New Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2021
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Location
United States
Red Tail Tinfoil Barb has some serious issues.

He's had a "fungus" on his lip for maybe a few months. It did not seem to bother him, but i still attempted to treat it with various medications(including several water changes).

About 2 days ago, overnight, he developed an ulcer on his upper back. It is tinged with red, and had seemed to be covered with a white fluffy substance. There were other spots on his body that had this white substance.
He had also developed eye cloud.

I have run a course of Furan 2(but could not finish dose) as It is completley discontinued. And i could not get ANY acesss to it. Been using melafix as well. I have done a 25% water change in the past day(after my unfinished Furan treatment).

The ulcer seems to be healing a bit, and the eye cloud is almost gone but there is obviously still something wrong. My barb was also not eating much for a few days, until i treated with Furan. Now he is as ravenous as ever. I initially thought it was Columnaris but from my understanding, that develops very fast and kills just as fast.

I did have a Gold algae eater die on me within the past week, was sluggish for a few days...and then boom, dead overnight.

This has gone above and beyond my knowledge, so i could use some guidance. I cannot lose this barb too...


I have Kanaplex(kanamycin) and Metroplex(metronidazol) on hand, as well as Maracyn Oxy. Ive got aquarium salt, and about half a bottle of melafix left too.

I dont wanna just start dumping meds in the tank, but i need some help real fast.

Ill attach some pics.
 

Attachments

  • 20210920_220705.jpg
    20210920_220705.jpg
    167.3 KB · Views: 37
  • 20210920_220632.jpg
    20210920_220632.jpg
    132.7 KB · Views: 43
Last edited:
Red Tail Tinfoil Barb has some serious issues.

He's had a "fungus" on his lip for maybe a few months. It did not seem to bother him, but i still attempted to treat it with various medications(including several water changes).

About 2 days ago, overnight, he developed an ulcer on his upper back. It is tinged with red, and had seemed to be covered with a white fluffy substance. There were other spots on his body that had this white substance.
He had also developed eye cloud.

I have run a course of Furan 2(but could not finish dose) as It is completley discontinued. And i could not get ANY acesss to it. Been using melafix as well. I have done a 25% water change in the past day(after my unfinished Furan treatment).

The ulcer seems to be healing a bit, and the eye cloud is almost gone but there is obviously still something wrong. My barb was also not eating much for a few days, until i treated with Furan. Now he is as ravenous as ever. I initially thought it was Columnaris but from my understanding, that develops very fast and kills just as fast.

I did have a Gold algae eater die on me within the past week, was sluggish for a few days...and then boom, dead overnight.

This has gone above and beyond my knowledge, so i could use some guidance. I cannot lose this barb too...


I have Kanaplex(kanamycin) and Metroplex(metronidazol) on hand, as well as Maracyn Oxy. Ive got aquarium salt, and about half a bottle of melafix left too.

I dont wanna just start dumping meds in the tank, but i need some help real fast.

Ill attach some pics.
That tank water to me looks pretty green and the pic is pretty hard to get a clear visual of him is the glass clean?
 
I agree with Bruce here, chemicals are usually a big no no unless you KNOW What your treating I personally know from experience :( before I had signed up on this forum.
as I have heard some people say "Pure Water is the best medication possible for fish" for some things Ich I don't think pure water will fix only high temps (86*F) and vacuuming the gravel ;)

anyways my words in total is Don't try meds until you know what your treating like Bruce said :) listen to em he knows alot!
 
The glass is clean, just has water marks on the outside from when i changed the water a day ago.

Ammonia and nitrates were high when i tested earlier today. Nitrites were non existent. My PH was stupidly low at 6.0 (from what i understand, this has a large impact on ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate counts in the tank). Did a 50% water change immediately after. Will test again shortly. I added some cuttlefish bone, both crushed and in a piece to the tank(to raise the PH).

My water source has a lot of acidity, so i always have to add something to adjust for it. In the past Ive tried Proper PH by API, but it has never done anything. Ive used cuttlefish bone before successfully.

My tank is a 50 gallon tank with just the barb and 1 clown loach. The loach is doing fine, visibly at least. Ive just changed my filter to an internal one, capable of the tank size. I have a powerhead and airstone running as well.
 
The glass is clean, just has water marks on the outside from when i changed the water a day ago.

Ammonia and nitrates were high when i tested earlier today. Nitrites were non existent. My PH was stupidly low at 6.0 (from what i understand, this has a large impact on ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate counts in the tank). Did a 50% water change immediately after. Will test again shortly. I added some cuttlefish bone, both crushed and in a piece to the tank(to raise the PH).

My water source has a lot of acidity, so i always have to add something to adjust for it. In the past Ive tried Proper PH by API, but it has never done anything. Ive used cuttlefish bone before successfully.

My tank is a 50 gallon tank with just the barb and 1 clown loach. The loach is doing fine, visibly at least. Ive just changed my filter to an internal one, capable of the tank size. I have a powerhead and airstone running as well.
What exactly were your ammonia because 8 is outrageously dangerous in fact any ammonia above 0 is outrageously dangerous!
that could explain your ph being so low, do a huge and I mean huge water change that's what I had to do to get my ammonia back down.
and also what test kit are you using? I use the master API test kit (LIQUID) if their test strips throw em out and spend like $25 on amazon or $40 in a LFS for a liquid test kit
 
do you have any live plants at all?
as for your clown loaches they require to be in groups, atleast 6 of them which would require atleast 150 Gallons according to this https://www.aquariumsource.com/clown-loach/#:~:text=Now, as adults, the minimum,30 gallons of space each.

either way do a big WC and be mindful of the stress of fish adding anymore chemicals other than water conditioner if you have city water, etc is not recommended as it will add even more stress, reducing their immune system

EDIT: I hope these are helpful tips ;)
I see @Slaphppy7 liked both of em ;)
 
The glass is clean, just has water marks on the outside from when i changed the water a day ago.

Ammonia and nitrates were high when i tested earlier today. Nitrites were non existent. My PH was stupidly low at 6.0 (from what i understand, this has a large impact on ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate counts in the tank). Did a 50% water change immediately after. Will test again shortly. I added some cuttlefish bone, both crushed and in a piece to the tank(to raise the PH).

My water source has a lot of acidity, so i always have to add something to adjust for it. In the past Ive tried Proper PH by API, but it has never done anything. Ive used cuttlefish bone before successfully.

My tank is a 50 gallon tank with just the barb and 1 clown loach. The loach is doing fine, visibly at least. Ive just changed my filter to an internal one, capable of the tank size. I have a powerhead and airstone running as well.
First of all, what do you mean by "high", with ammonia and nitrAtes? What kind of test kit do you use? What kind of water conditioner?

Agree with above posts, throwing chemicals into a tank before we even know what we are dealing with just complicates matters.

How long has this tank been set up? Was it cycled before adding fish, or during the time they've been in the tank?
 
do you have any live plants at all?
as for your clown loaches they require to be in groups, atleast 6 of them which would require atleast 150 Gallons according to this https://www.aquariumsource.com/clown-loach/#:~:text=Now, as adults, the minimum,30 gallons of space each.

either way do a big WC and be mindful of the stress of fish adding anymore chemicals other than water conditioner if you have city water, etc is not recommended as it will add even more stress, reducing their immune system

EDIT: I hope these are helpful tips ;)
I see @Slaphppy7 liked both

Rookie mistake in not knowing that the loach needed a community of them(i found out shortly after buying my current tank). I know i need a large tank...any suggestions on a good site for affordable tanks? Ive done some prelim searching recently.

Ammonia was 4ppm 😞
I did a 50% water change this morning. How long should I wait before I think about doing another?
I have the same test kit as you. Threw out those crappy test strips awhile ago.

I did have live plants awhile ago, but my fish often gobbled them up.
 
Last edited:
First of all, what do you mean by "high", with ammonia and nitrAtes? What kind of test kit do you use? What kind of water conditioner?

Agree with above posts, throwing chemicals into a tank before we even know what we are dealing with just complicates matters.

How long has this tank been set up? Was it cycled before adding fish, or during the time they've been in the tank?
Both the barb and loach have been together for almost 2 years. My current tank has been set up for about a year.

I inherited the barb, and bought the loach shortly after.

Water conditioner- API Stresscoat
Test kit- API Master Test Kit(liquid)

Ammonia- 4ppm
Nitrates- 40ppm
 
Both the barb and loach have been together for almost 2 years. My current tank has been set up for about a year.

I inherited the barb, and bought the loach shortly after.

Water conditioner- API Stresscoat
Test kit- API Master Test Kit(liquid)

Ammonia- 4ppm
Nitrates- 40ppm
yeah, the ammonia is pretty high when my ammonia was high in my 30gal I did a 25% one day then the next I did like a 95% WC and that majorly brought the ammonia down to a safer level and my live plants & biofilter got rid of the rest ;)

and now my plants are growing like crazy! never had an issue with fish eating them, I have 2 tiger barbs bought the day before yesterday, 2 plecos (1 common & 1 clown pleco), 2 Kuhli Loaches, 1 guppy, and then a Chinese algae eater

PS to fish peeps: I'm getting more barbs, kuhli loaches, and guppies maybe next week! Ik the schools are very very small so yeah no need to take this post offtopic from the OP to tell me my fish needs a proper school ;)

also I'd recommend getting some live plants again maybe get some that can fit in the Aquarium Co-OP plant holder or whatever thats called.
 
Not good, ANY ammonia is toxic to fish. Yours are showing symptoms of ammonia burn.

Stresscoat is not a good conditioner, if it's really a "conditioner" at all....Get some Seachem Prime, or API Tap Water Conditioner, and do a large WC...the sooner, the better...match the tap temp to the tank temp, as closely as possible

You are in the midst of a fish-in cycle, so have a look at the appropriate section here: https://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycle-your-tank-a-complete-guide-for-beginners.475055/
 
Not good, ANY ammonia is toxic to fish. Yours are showing symptoms of ammonia burn.

Stresscoat is not a good conditioner, if it's really a "conditioner" at all....Get some Seachem Prime, or API Tap Water Conditioner, and do a large WC...the sooner, the better...match the tap temp to the tank temp, as closely as possible

You are in the midst of a fish-in cycle, so have a look at the appropriate section here: https://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycle-your-tank-a-complete-guide-for-beginners.475055/
I've got Top Fin water conditioner as well. Is that adequate?
 

Most reactions

trending

Staff online

Back
Top