Scary Tiger Barb Behavior

[This Old Spouse]

One of my youngest TBs started a shimmying behavior (a couple of others too) but that one I put in a Q tank right away. It went from the shimmying to trying to swim bent to one side!

All parameters are 0, even nitrate, which is a little strange but I do have a lot of plants in this tank so not too surprised.


Any help appreciated.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Video:

tiger barb shimmy

 

[This Old Spouse]

Bump.

Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[nurglespuss]

Bump.

Does anyone have any ideas?

This 'may' be related to stress, or something associated with it (IMHO).

When I recently lost a number of fish, all the plecs that died displayed this behaviour. I don't know if it was a result of irritation/something chemical/bacterial infection etc.

I think you've done a good thing to quaranteen him (if you can, darken the tank to keep him more sedated).

and keep an eye on the rest too, I would be very tempted to perform a large water change if possible, and test your water (especially for ammonia spike - or nitrite).

Good luck.

 

[This Old Spouse]

As stated before, my readings are all at 0.

I can't imagine why one fish out of 20 would be stressed out. I think it's some kind of disease or possibly injury. I've put all 5 of the young barbs in the Q tank. The other 4 seem to be doing well behaviorally, and the initial problem fish is still not doing well (but not getting any worse).

The coloring of all the barbs is strange as well. The black stripes are a shimmery green color, and overall they look washed out.

 

[nurglespuss]

Well, washed out colour is often a sign of stress...

just to clarify, I wasn't saying it was a symptom of stress, but rather a disease they become vulnerable to because of stress and/or a disease that causes them to become overly stressed.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Got it. So should I just keep them in the Q tank for a few days and see if they improve?

 

[nanoMama86]

You are gonna think i am crazy.....but i bet you bought a set of inbred tigers. Type in fish epilepsy in google and boom there is the same swimming fit. Too many fish fish being bred too closely on the same genetic line... Weird color aberrations and things like seizures that are super uncommon in fish. Close observation and blackout tank conditions will tell you if this is the case. If he is responding, by seizing, to your light shimmering, then he should stop or at least slow down with no light. I have an epileptic koi that gets a phenobarbital laced shrimp everyday.


Poor guy! It made me cry watching it.

 

[nurglespuss]

Yes photosensitive epilepsy is not pleasant (its the only form of epliepsy related to light pulses/patterns).

But, just dimming/blacking out the quaranteen tank for a few days is a good move as I said, keep them quaranteened as long as it takes until your happy with their appearance/behaviour/feeding etc. its well worth it!

 

[mishmash]

Could it not just be that he is seeing his reflection in the glass and reacting to what he perceives as "another fish" ? You see this behaviour in marine fish all the time. Just hold a mirror up to a cleaner wrasse and it will attack like a madman !!!

 

[This Old Spouse]

I don't think so. I've had these guys for about a month and a half without behavior like this. And if you look at the video closely you'll see that's not the case.