Lethargic Tiger Barbs

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plmnwater

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Oct 19, 2004
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Help! Tiger Barbs

I have a 46 gallon tank that I started off with

4 tiger barbs
2 albino tiger barbs
2 green tiger barbs

I followed all the instructions for fishless cycling, got everything working properly, and added the fish. They were great for about a month. I monitored Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate, and did water changes about once a week. Suddenly, they started to hide whenever the light was on. On the advice of my LFS, I treated them with Erythromycin (sp?). It hasn't helped, and now they're even more lethargic, laying on the bottom of the tank in the back most of the time, whether the light is on or off. Most of them still come up to eat, but then they scurry back to their hiding spots. Where once they would rush to the front whenever we walked by, now if we move anywhere near the thank they'll hide. Ammonia and Nitrite are both staying steady at zero. Nitrate is well within acceptable range, and I change the water before it gets to be a problem. Thanks for any advice anyone may have.
 
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are they the only fish in the tank? what kind of decorations and cover do you have in the tank? how big are they? not sure what the medication they gave you is for or what they were treating for. what is the temp of the tank? they could just be scared if they come out and eat just fine. do they look skinny or fat? any other abnormalities? Kyle
 
They're the only ones in the tank. There are plenty of decorations and hiding places in the tank, many plants, a few big rocks, a large fake log (Petco) and then in the front there is a large area that they can swim freely. They're probably about an inch to an inch and a half long. The temperature has been steady at 78 degrees. One of the albinos looks like his stomach area is pretty skinny, but the rest seem to be average shaped. They've lost some color of late, and some of them have ragged fins. One of the green barbs is doing the nose dive almost constantly, and it gets even more so after eating.

As for them just being scared, they didn't seem to have any problems for the first month or so. They schooled all the time out in front of the tank, even when we were walking right by the tank. Thanks.
 
I have probably around 15 various barbs in a 36 along with many other fish and I have had a barb here and there (generally green or albino tiger barbs) that will start hiding and get skinny. I had a couple die and a couple survived but never was sure to the cause. I also had a nice male black ruby barb that up and died without warning (found a dead carcass and determined he was missing). You might add some salt and might research some internal parasites as being a possible cause but usually they refuse to eat. My sick green tiger barbs would come out and follow a piece of food but never eat it, just watch it. Kyle
 
The EM Tabs were to treat what they suspected was a bacterial infection. It doesn't seem to have had any effect on them. One of my greens is extremely pale and is almost constantly floating nose down now. Does anyone have any ideas?
 
You should do a large water change (50%) and put some active carbon into your filter to get the erythromicin out of the tank. IME and IMO fish who are eating perfectly well, but are hiding a lot, are not sick with a bacterial infection. Unless they had other symptoms that you didn't mention in your first post, I would never even suspect an infection...

Large water change asap, and run some active carbon to get rid of the erythromicin. If you can get your hands on it, I find Melafix to be a cure-all for just about every unknown or unspecified illness...

Good luck
~Tara
 
I have already added the carbon and done the water change to get rid of the EM. That was a couple days ago, and they're still hiding out. I'll try the Melafix, hopefully it helps. Thanks.
 
just for grins, you might try some dithers like some danio's. maybe you even have a friend who can loan some to you? mollies and platies are usually always out at the top of the water as well so you might try some of those. More of an experiment to see if they are hiding because of some type of sickness or if it's just because they've become intimidated by something. the nose down doesn't bother me, mine are always over-eating and having a hard time staying under the water after they eat. plus, they seem to watch the bottom of the tank a lot looking for scraps or something to move. Kyle
 
An occasional nose-down doesn't bother me, but the greens are now doing the nose down, then flipping completely over, sitting like that for a moment, and then finally righting themselves. It's definitely not just normal nose-down barb behavior.
 
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