Help regarding Tiger Barbs!!

V

ViperGTS19801

AC Members
Jun 30, 2006
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My girlfriend Megf and I put together a ten gallon tank, and since she loves fish, we put an Angel, two bala sharks, two tiger barbs, and a Pleco inside.

For the past six months, the fish LOVED the tank. Everyone seemed happy. They all got huge, enough so that we were getting ready to split the fish into two seperate tanks (the ten gallon and a new fifteen gallon).

Now, perhaps we're better suited to goldfish: we hardly ever maintain the tanks. The filter does a great job of keeping the water clear, and the pleco keeps the fishpoo off the gravel. However, other tank elements are unmonitored: acidity levels, pH levels, etc.

As I said, for six months, the fish seemed so happy. Then, about a week ago, one of the two tiger barbs was found floating upside down and pallid white. Meg was crushed, and she sent him on a spinning trip down the toilet.

The other barb became introverted and stopped eating. he died just earlier tonight.

The other fish seem unbothered.

Any thoughts?
 
well, your tiger barbs probably wasted away because you didn't give them a proper school, because it doesn't seem like they had any common diseases. was there anything weird about the corpse? any white spots or gold dust?
 
No, they were just white and dead-looking.

The two barbs spent all their time together, and seemed quite happy, until the one died, at which point it's friend got very lonerish. That's understandable.
 
how long did you have them?
 
It could have even been from old age, I don't know. just next time you get barbs of any type or any other schooling fish, make sure you get at least 5, okay?
 
When was the last time you did a waterchange -- or have you changed the water at all?

You need to get a test kit, ASAP, or you could lose all your fish. Please go out and get an Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Master Test kit and post your pH, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.

As an aside, a 15g tank is not big enough for any of those fish, nor is the 10g they are in right now.

Plecos, btw, do not eat feces. You are supposed to remove the debris yourself. What are you feeding the pleco?

I highly suspect you'll find your nitrates are through the roof and this will point to Old Tank Syndrome. Six months is awful early to develop it, however you have a huge bioload for that little tank and I wouldn't be surprised at all.

Whatever you do, do not start doing water changes or you could kill all your fish. Just post your water parameters and we'll walk you through fixing the problem. Kay?

Roan
 
I agree. that is a HUGE bioload... it could be old tank syndrome. we need more info to properly judge. I guess I just automatically assumed that you did regular basic mantinance.
 
fishcatch22 said:
I agree. that is a HUGE bioload... it could be old tank syndrome. we need more info to properly judge. I guess I just automatically assumed that you did regular basic mantinance.
Click to expand...
This sentence says it all:

"Now, perhaps we're better suited to goldfish: we hardly ever maintain the tanks. The filter does a great job of keeping the water clear, and the pleco keeps the fishpoo off the gravel. However, other tank elements are unmonitored: acidity levels, pH levels, etc."​

Roan
 
I was reading it in a hurry! people miss things!
 
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