Seeking Help I.d.'ing Mystery Illness In Kribensis

[Cutebunion]

I had two adult female cherry barbs in a six-gallon eclipse tank. They had been in good health for several years and I take good care of my tank. Last week, I introduced into this tank four new fish: two pairs of kribensis (perhaps six months old or less, not fully grown) that I had purchased from a store. I had brought them home on a warmish day so the fish did not get chilled in transit. The 6 fish were all in the six-gallon tank together where I was planning to keep them until my new, larger tank arrived this week.

When I took the kribensis home from the store last week, they all seemed in good health. But I noticed one of the kribensis moved a little stiffly and was slightly "shy". Within three days or so, all four kribensis were dead, despite my treating them with antibiotics and a parasite medicine. My original two fish--- the cherry barbs-- are still in great health. I have no idea what happened to those Kribs, and don't want to buy new fish till I know what killed them. I introduced them to my tank carefully the way one is supposed to. The water was clean. The temperature in the tank is about 78 degrees F. There were no visible parasites on the fish and no red streaks-- no signs of illness until they were very ill, when they got skinny, wouldn't eat, sat on the bottom of the tank, and in the final stages of the illness briefly had pop -eye. I have kept Kribs successfully in the past (in another tank, long ago) and never had any problem keeping them.

The fact that my cherry barbs are still healthy, and that one of the kribs arrived acting "not quite normal", leads me to think that all four kribs carried some kind of illness from the store where I bought them.

Can anyone tell me, please, what might have caused the sudden death of all four kribs? And if I bought fish now from another store, would they be likely to survive? I want to make sure there is nothing in my current tank or water that could be fatal to fish-- but my cherry barbs have always been healthy and happy there and they are at least 3 or 4 years old. My new tank is l2 gallons.

Thanks.

--Staton

 

[Darkmoon Bettas]

Did you test your water parameters? Ammonia, nitrate, nitrite? Sounds like you added too much bio-load to the tank too fast. You're never supposed to more than double the load at any given time (and one krib would equal the waste output of about two cherry barbs), but you essentially went from a bioload of 1x to a bioload of 5x what had been there (and more bioload than that filter should be handling, anyhow).

Kribs can be fussy settling in at first, and could have just been more sensitive to water pollution than the well-established barbs. Keep in mind the kribs had already traveled at least three within a few days, once TO the wholesaler, once from the wholesaler TO your LFS, and once from your LFS to you. Even other identical fish (in this case, cherry barbs) that had been through that much shipping would be stressed and less healthy than your original ones that hadn't moved for years.

If your new tank is 12 gallons, it's only big enough for one pair of kribs. Remember they are cichlids and they are territorial--in addition to the shipping/water pollution stress, they may have been quarreling with each other for territory and helped along their own demise. You basically need at least 10 gallons of tank per (mature) pair of kribs. This isn't a space issue, it's an aggression issue. You could put two kribs and two krib-sized, non-cichlid fish, in the 12 gallon without too much hassle, but two pairs of kribs will start to really tear each other up in a space that small, once they start trying to pair off to breed.

 

[kribensis12]

That tank is way too small! even if you are getting a new one you should have waited and then got them or had the petstore hold them. Igf the kribs were breathing heavally when you got them then they were already sick, irf not then I dont know what to tell you.

 

[Cutebunion]

Thanks very much to both of you for taking the time to reply to my question about what killed the kribs. This was very helpful.

-Staton