Green tiger barb losing color

[Alathia]

I have a 10 gallon tank, with 5 tiger barbs and 3 green tiger barbs. They have lived together in harmony for a while.

Today, after my 25% partial water change, I noticed that one of the green tiger barbs was losing color - he's a dull, light green color now. And he's swimming sort of listlessly behind the others.

My barbs are pretty playful, and like to nip at each other, I'm afraid him becoming listless will cause his eventually nipping to death. :(

Anyone know what is wrong? My pH is 7.2, and everything else seems to be ok. None of hte other fish seem to be experiencing any distress. Thanks.

[rjl420]

Hi,

First off, just so you know, green barbs and tiger barbs are the same species (Capoeta tetrazona).

sometimes when doing my partial changes I notice the same thing. It's a sign of stress, probably from a difference in either temp or pH. i also notice the same thing when the lights just come on or I turn them off. not really a symptom for a disease/parasite but prolonged stress can lead to both.

just be aware that when doing water changes, try to keep the temp and pH the same.

about the listlessness, were the just fed? my barbs will swim with the head down and sometimes look listless right after a feeding.

HTH

[NJ Devils Fan]

The same thing happens with my tiger barb too. After I feed him, he usually is in the same part of the tank with his head down for some time. And with the coloration, just yesterday morning when I turned the light on, his black stripe was discolored. I though it was sick, so I put some Aquarium salt in the tank, and when I came home in the afternoon, he was fine.

[wetmanNY]

I'm looking at very much the same trouble in a desk aquarium right by my computer. Two old old Tiger Barbs, one natural, one "Mossyback Green." The green one is winding down after a pretty long life-- six or seven years-- hanging her head. and the other, male, is picking at her ventral area. Then she'll pull herself together and be fine for hours...

I've been feeding them very lightly ever since last summer's heat.

[Alathia]

Thanks for the help! Yes, I have been reading up on them, and it seems that after they are fed, they do the listless swimming around. I guess it's because they like to gorge themselves. I'll try to feed them less at each feeding. :)

The green tiger barb is looking better, not as pale of a green anymore. Thanks for telling me this isn't some really harmful condition that I should be worried about. I'll keep my eye out next time I do a water change and makes ure it's not as shocking to their system.

[goldfries]

i wouldn't worry so much about your fish unless he's behaving odd. if the color fades but the fella is behaving normal it's fine.

after all sometimes they can't help it when their color fades a little by nature.

fading color + normal behavior = normal fish
normal color + abnormal behavior = problem fish

[VA Fish Lover]

Just today I noticed my tiger barbs appeared lighter in color, almost faded. Also, they were not swimming around like they always do. I checked the levels, and the nitrite was at 1.0 ppm! I quickly did a 25% change and added SeaChem Prime to the water at 2X dose. Amazingly, the fish reacted very quickly, becoming active again. So far, I see everybody except the clown loach, but he hides a lot anyways.

I think I had this problem from overfeeding. Just got the clown loach a few days ago and I have been giving a lot of food to try to get him to eat : /

Maybe something similar happened to your tigers. Hope my story helps someone.