Why quarantine tanks are so important

[rodeo-clown]

I've just had to learn the hard way.

I had a few tetras, dwarf gourami and a bristlenose pleco living happily for over a month. I decided to go to the LFS and get 3 tiger barbs. I put them in, after letting the bag sit in the tank for 1hr.

Two days later, a tiger bard is dead. The next day my bristlenose was dead and today, one of my pearl gourami is dead. I'm so upset.

So it seems the tiger barbs had some sort of disease. The two remaining ones don't seem very happy either. One doesn't move from inside the rock feature and the other just likes to hang out in the back corner.

Is there anything I could be doing in the meantime or is it a matter of letting nature take its course?

 

[OrkyBetta]

Test your water, and see whats up. I would also go back to the LFS and tell them the issue. Most good LFS's quarantine the fish before selling them in the first place.

I would do a lot of water changes, but there isnt much you can do, unless you want to take out the questionable fish and quarantine them.

 

[WILDER]

It sounds like they have fetched something into the tank, are fish heavy breathing, red inflamed gills,swollen tummys, any darkness in clour, any fuzzy bit or spots on the body, any flicking and rubbing against objects.