Tiger Barb Ill? Turned black...

[StarlitSnow]

Tank Size: 10 gallon

Water Parameters:
Ammonia: 0
Ph: 6.8
Alkalinity: 80
Hardness: 300
Nitrate: 15
Nitrite: 0

Water Changes: 25% change every week.

Feeding: 2 times daily.

Fish in the tank: 8 tiger barbs

Infected fish: 1 tiger barb

Symptoms of the infected fish: Turned completely black, swims strangely, barely eats, goes belly up every few minutes.

Time the Symptoms occurred: Started about a day ago (my sister was watching my fish while I was out of town) and have been going on all day.

Age of the fish: 6 months.

Tank History: None.

Medications in Use: None.

[mousey]

remove from tank immediately and put in Q tank. If no q tank get a square shaped plastic bottle, cut off the top part, put a hole thru the top edge. insert wire and hang in the main tank so fish keeps warm. do 100% water change on this small container daily, until fish dies or gets better. if it is really warm at your house being summer, put the sick fish in a large container and do 100% daily water change or 50% twice daily until better or dies. If the fish is in pain or gets worse euthanize.
Read up about that. It is sometimes kinder to do that than let it suffer for days on end.
other wise you can try some treatments but i don't know what you would treat with or for. you are likely to spend a fortune and still have the fish die.
Ps i use 2 kg peanut butter jars as Q tanks if i have to keep a fish in the warmth as my q tank usually has a lot of fry in it.

[StarlitSnow]

Thanks for the advice! I read it a little too late, however...in my panic of him dying, I used a little aquarium salt and Melafix and he was miraculously cured in a few days. (He developed fin rot the next day, hence the Melafix...) I didn't know fin rot made fish act like that, but if it was some mystery disease, he's all better now.

[FishHead]

glad he's gotten better.one thing though, barbs in a 10 gal tank is a big no-no. the bare minimum they should be in is a 30 gal tank. I have 5 in my 30, which is pushing it.Luckily they'll be upgraded to a 55 next month.

[David-P]

why is it wrong to have barbs in a 10 gallon?

right now i have a 10 gallon with a goldfish and a tiger barb in it. Cheap fish i picked up to cycle the tank....but he seems happy.

[fishbguy]

read up about the nitrogen cycle, tank stocking, warm water fish (the barbs) and cold water fish (the goldfish) and why aquarists don't keep them in the same tank.

Even if you use the one inch of FULL GROWN, ADULT FISH per gallon rule, which is a bunch of BS, you'll see that your over stocked. let me type it out for you

Fish: Full Adult Size:
Tiger Barb 3 inches
Tiger Barb 3 inches
Tiger Barb 3 inches
Tiger Barb 3 inches
Tiger Barb 3 inches
Tiger Barb 3 inches
Tiger Barb 3 inches
Tiger Barb 3 inches

that adds up to 24 inches of fish. so you already have a 25 gallon tank for the fish you currently have. BUT, tiger barbs are very active and aggressive fish. so naturally, you need a bigger tank than a 25. a 29 or a 30 is in the works for you. but a longer tank is always better than a taller tank so a 30 or 40 breeder would be even better.

Gold fish are considered a coldwater fish, meaning that they don't need a heater for their tank to live happily. infact, if their water is too warm, it could even kill them. Tiger barbs are a tropical fish, which means that they need a heater to keep their water warm and if their water is too cold, it could kill them. the temp. of the water for these two fish varies to much for them to be succefully housed together.

a fishless cycle is often prefered over a fish cycle because the cycle could kill the fish because of the amonia spikes and what not. there is a sticky on this in either the general freshwater section or the beginer fresh water section.

if you can't get a larger tank, try to give/trade the barbs back to the lfs (local fish store) and we'll try to help you pick out some more fish that can live their lives in a 10 gallon. a personal favorite of mine are cherry barbs. they look sorta like mini tigerbarbs but different.

i hoped this helped.

Andrew

[fishbguy]

stunting fish:

http://www.fishforums.com/forum/gene...ting-fish.html

nitrogen cycle:

http://www.fishforums.com/forum/gene...le-basics.html

compatbility:

http://www.fishforums.com/forum/gene...get-yours.html

fishless cycle:

http://www.fishforums.com/forum/begi...reshwater.html