HELP MY FISH!!!

Kaddock

Hi everyone! So for about the last 5 yrs, I have had a stable aquarium... It is a tall 45 gal, so without a good light plants don't work, and the snails, I forgot to cleanse the plants I tried... Anyway, so I have two zebra loaches who like the snails, a large, old angelfish, three tiger barbs, four gold barbs, 5 rasboras, 2 rainbows, a golden algae eater, a large pleco, and two small plecos (i rubberlip, i starry-tentaclenose pleco). Everything has been fine, except the fact that the guy who sold me the barbs said that they would be fine with my old girl (the angel) and they have been eating her beautiful fins... :( But the problem I am posting is this: two of the tiger barbs have died (well one is almost there) they lose their balance (air bladder problem?) and can't reach food... :( This one is almost dead... And another one has a parasite on his nose, its white and kinda just looks like a skin tag. I know I can't save the first one, but is it safe to treat for parasites in this environment? I don't have the scaleless cats anymore (died in move... he was my favorite). Do these species sound safe for a full tank treatment? Arggg.... let me know what you think.

Lupin

Welcome to Fishforum.com.

Tiger barbs are fin nippers. Research before accepting any more fish.;) What are your water parameters so far? Use API liquid test kit to determine ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and pH. Fast your fish for a few days. The fish's swim bladder may have been damaged thus losing their ability to swim properly. What food have you been feeding them?

Please post pictures. Chances are the white patch indicates Columnaris disease. What is your temperature right now? Without knowing your water parameters and properly diagnose what the problems are, we cannot recommend any meds. A lot of meds are dangerous. Loaches, in particular, are sensitive to meds and dosage should be cut by half. For future reference, once your problem has been sorted, please remember to add more loaches. A couple will do it. Loaches are best kept at 3 minimum as these are sociable fish.

I'd suggest isolating all problematic fish right now. A 5g tank will do the trick operated with sponge filter and heater.

Good luck.

Kaddock

Hi! Its not the tigers doing the nipping, its the golds! But that's not the main concern, I am broke as a joke right now (so test kits are scarce), but as far as ammonia, I just changed out the filters, and have never had problems with dejecta, cause I usually keep it under taps. PH looks a little low right now, it is probably between 6-6.5, but I am using a 6.7 buffer. I feed them tetramin tropical flakes. The messed up barb is very skinny... I think fasting is the last thing he needs, cause he has no choice, and has already been fasting for days... I tried to get a pic for 30 mins!!! My dig cam sucks, and they keep hiding... I will keep trying. Oh and btw, after looking for a pic of my tigers on google, they look more like clown barbs... That fish guy is lame!!! Guess I shouldn't trust em just because they are in the fish store. well, please check back, I will post again!

Lupin

How does the poo of the skinny barb look? Whitish and stringy? What is the temperature of your tank?

crystalclear83

Tiger barbs are definitely fin nippers! If they are sick then they may not be showing their true behavior, but they will be worse than the gold barbs. As far as the white patch Lupin sounds right on with that diagnosis, although like he said a picture could help. Your loaches would die if you used any malchite green based medications among others, their skin absorbs it and they die. Lupin what do you think about mela-flx? Yes it sounds like the fish people don't know their stuff or don't care about you... barbs are known for their affinity for nipping, and on top of that you bought a bunch of sick fish!

Lupin

I don't it will help against Columnaris and swim bladder disorder. We'll need to properly diagnose the white patch situation before proceeding to the medicines.

dr heckle

make shore you research the disease thourily before trying anything.
another good idea would be to set up a hospital tank and put the effected fish in it if the problem is swim bladder problems put the effected fish in a dish with anoth water so that the depth is only as much as the fish needs then (now this next bit might sound silly but trust me it works my Goldfish had swimbladder trouble and it worked when nothing else would work) try feeding them boild and skinned peas only in small amounts mind you or it will foul the water (i told you it would sound silly but trust me it works ive tried it with both Goldfish and tropicals and have had lots of sucsses although i take no responsibility if somthing dose on some off chance go wrong despite what i have just said it is safe).
i hope this will help solve your problem.
ps. about the plants i have had the same problem in the past and remedied it by using plants that do not need intnse light to photosynthesise rember plants that are dark green have more chlorophyll and so therefore can survive with little light as they are able to catch that witch is there whereas light green plants have little amounts of chlorophyl and so therefore need large amounts of light