Sick Tiger Barbs

Pooing Monstrosity

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Hi folks.

We've got a 16UK Gallon (19US) tropical fish tank, at 25 degrees Centigrade (77 degrees Fahrenheit).

In the tank are:
2 x 'normal' Tiger Barbs;
1 x albino Tiger Barb;
1 x Rosy Barb;
2 x Green Tiger Barbs;
2 x Siamese Flying Foxes;
2 x Albino Cories;
2 x Pepper Cories;
1 x Julii Cory;
1 x Schwartzi Cory.

All the levels I've checked (i.e. Nitrite, Ammonia, Oxygen, pH) are excellent.
There is a very high-quality filter in the tank, as well as substantial plant life.

Now here's the problem...
A Rosy Barb died yesterday. It started looking ill on Thursday - not swimming around much, just treading water. It was facing slightly downward, some of the time. It MIGHT have had a slightly bloated stomach, but we aren't sure. We could have just imagined this, when we were trying to determine a cause of death. If it was bloated, it was only slight. So I don't think it's a swim bladder disorder or internal bacterial infection.

Anyway, we just concluded that we couldn't determine the cause of death.

But now the Albino Barb has started acting out of character. He's spending much of his time just hovering, underneath the filter, often looking at (I assume) his reflection in the glass. He sometimes does that thing where he sort of faces slightly downwards, just treading water. He isn't like this ALL the time - he does swim about a bit - but he spends most of his time in this state.

And now... It looks like one of the Tiger Barbs is starting to do the same.

We recently transferred the Barbs from a different tank. This different tank got Ich after we moved them from it. However, we treated both tanks for Ich, since the disease can have a lifespan of three weeks. There was some (but not much) itching in the 'new' tank, but there is no sign of Ich at all in there now, since it was treated.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Also, let me know if you need any more information.

Cheers,
Pooing Monstrosity.

PS: If any of this sounds familiar, it's because I'm Cheese Specialist's partner, so I'm talking about the same fish tank as you may have read about from her. It's the smaller of our tropical tanks (they were moved from the larger tank about a fortnight ago).
 
LoveMyOscar said:
How did you treat for ich? I would also like to know when was your last water change and what your nitrAte level is. This has many of the signs of nitrAte poisoning. What kind of filter do you have? Does it have carbon in it? How long has this tank been established and was it cycled? Geeze I just bombarded you with questions. Sorry, we need to know these things to better understand what is going on in your tank. :)
Thanks for you reply,

Interpet Anti Whitespot plus, it is a very good med and I have used it before with the fish in question. It does not harm fish, filters or plants.

I do weekly water changes of 30% and the last one was Saturday, I changed a small amount of water every 2 days during treatment to keep things fresh, adding the meds taken out back in. Usin dechlorinated temp matched water obviously.

I do not know my nitrAte level, at present I have only nitrIte and amonia tests for the cycle. The tank has been going for 4 months with no problems and it is cycled (always 0 amonia and 0 nitrIte). I am not sure about nitrAte poisoning to be honest but I will look into it.

The filter is a fluval biolife filter which is inbuilt into the tropiquarium tank. There was carbon but of course it was removed when treatment was added to the tank. ;)

Don't worry about all the questions, I'd rather that than you give an uninformed guess!!

Cheese Specialist and Pooing Monstrosity/Dana and Stu (CS/Dana writing this post). :)
 
I will get a NrtrAte test asap. It isn't oxygen as that is at 10 (2 is required, 5 reccommended) and the fish are not all gasping at the top and so on.

I will get the test soon, my lfs on rarely has them though. Don't know where to get one.
 

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