Lots of problems in my tank - kribensis and cherry barbs

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ManEatingShrimp

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Jan 28, 2012
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I noticed one of my cherry barbs has what looks like blisters at the end of its tail where the scales end and the fin begins. There are many more on one side than the other. On the same fish I also saw some irritated pinkish flesh in the "armpit" of one of the pectoral fins.

Another cherry barb was swimming sluggishly and was easily caught in a net. I had the net in a slight current and the fish went limp and just let the water push it against the side of the net so it did not have very much energy or strength. On this fish all I could see was dull colors, slightly ruffled scales, and it had a very shiny part on top of its head. If you look at a picture of a cherry barb it has a black spot on top of its head between its eyes. This looked very silvery and reflective which was strange. This fish just did not seem healthy at all but I don't know what to do with it so I left it in the tank for now. If it gets worse I am going to euthanize it.

About a week ago another cherry barb died and it had the agitated flesh under its pectoral fins. I am now worried there might be something contagious.



4-5 weeks ago I added a Bolivian ram and a kribensis. The Bolivian seems very healthy and active but ever since I got the kribensis there has been something wrong with her face. I assumed it was because the male she was kept with when I bought her had bitten off most of her face. It seems to have gotten worse and might be hole-in-the-head. Its like nothing is left on her face but the skull, 2 deep indentations run from her mouth all the way between her eyes to where her gills attack to her head. There are then two holes at the end of this indention. I assumed these were ear holes or something but I am not sure anymore. they seem pretty symmetrical. I will get a better look at her again tomorrow.

I fed the tank to try to get her to come closer so I could see her better. When I first walked up to the tank she had very faded coloration and nipped at the bolivian ram when it swam too close to her, which I have never seen before but wasn't too surprising. She seemed stressed and after adding the food what I think happened is she went to take a bite and something happened to her mouth. Either there is an indentation on top of her mouth or it looked like they were puckered out but could not be opened. Soon after adding the food she freaked out and swam to the back of the tank to hide. When I left she was hiding in a small cave under a rock so I couldn't get a good look.

Sorry for a long post but does that sound like hole-in-head or do I need to take a closer look and try to get a pic? I don't have any good cameras and she is pretty small (3")
 

sorberj

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Its likely the krib has an infection from her wound. I suggest an antibiotic treatment for the tank, but it may be a losing proposition. This does sound bacterial to me though. The best treatment is to make sure you have clean water. Do a water change before you start any treatment. Maracyn 1 and Marcyn 2 maybe the best combination treatment. Although to be honest I've had much better luck if you can get them to eat a medicated food. For the krib this may not be possible so you may have to do a whole tank treatment.

Please forgive any typos. This was sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using the MonsterAquariaNetwok App
 

ManEatingShrimp

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Its a 90 gallon tank so I was thinking of just quarantining any sick fish. I don't have the qt tank ready right now but hopefully in the next week it will be. I will do more water changes. I usually do them once a week.
Should I add salt or something? only meds I have are ich treatments and some antibacterial but only enough for 20-30 gallons I think
 

Coler

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Ok...it can be a bit overwhelming when you have multiple problems with a tank. Lets try and break down into a few discrete issues.

1. The Krib - which you say has something like most of her face bitten off. Step 1 is just don't buy that fish, unless you're going to house it in a hospital tank and try and rehab it. You are asking for problems in the tank.

Now that you have her if you want to try and treat I suggest you set up a smaller tank with her and just her in it, keep water conditions absolutely pristine with daily changes of 50% plus (so something like a 10G or 20G would make water changes easier) and see if she starts to heal up. Right now she's an absolute breeding ground for opportunistic infection be in bacterial, fungal or god knows what else, and if she gets something she's likely to infect other fish in your tank. Get her out of the tank and treat separately. As long as her wound is clean, just do daily changes - never underestimate the healing power of clean, fresh water - with maybe a little melafix or something non-aggressive. If her wound shows infection you're going to have to consider medication, which will depend on whether its fungal or bacterial. Make sure you are using a cycled or seeded filter on the QT.

I would finally add that if she is not feeding, based on your description, which is pretty gruesome, I would euthanise her.

2. The barbs. I'm taking it that these fish have been in the tank a while and have begun now to show the symptoms you describe. In the first instance you need to exclude water conditions as a contributing/causing factor. Test Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate with a liquid drop test kit and post back the levels. How much water are you changing per week ? What filtration is on the tank ? What are the other inhabitants ? Is it cycled ?

Ideally you would put the sick barbs into a separate Hospital tank to the krib, and treat separately initially by maintaining excellent water conditions in a stress free environment then try to work out what the actual disease issue is. On the basis that you are seeing symptoms spread from fish to fish I think you would be wise to assume that you have something contagious in the tank. It is however really difficult or impossible to say what without some pictures. On your description, it sounds like an infection at any rate, and you couldn't exclude parasites as well. You can't medicate without some diagnosis. Posting pictures might help others offer a view.

Depending on how widespread the symptoms are if you have apparently uninfected fish in the tank which you are particularly fond of, it would be worth considering removing them to a separate tank in the hope that they would remain disease free - not the same tank as the krib - while you try and sort out the problems in the main tank. The main thing with contagious disease is to try and stop the spread, either by removing the sick ones for treatment, or the healthy ones for isolation. I suppose if it were me, I'd base this on how many fish are healthy apparently, versus how many show symptoms. If the disease is widespread remove the healthy ones, if not vice versa.

You also stop using the same equipment (nets, siphons etc.) between tanks.

Medication makes no sense until you work out what it is you're treating and it is fairly well impossible for us to diagnose without some pics.

Good luck with it - you have quite a bit on your hands here.

edit : I just looked at your tank in your sig which I presume is the one we're talking about here - looks very nice by the way. Subject to you confirming your water parameters are good, it seems to me that ultimately what happened here was that you bought sick fish. I would get the barbs out of the tank, if the disease is confined to that group, and into a QT and
I would take the krib out as well, ideally into a separate hospital tank. If she is feeding despite her injuries it might not take very long for her to heal up. That said putting her in a tank with infected fish more or less guarantees she will get sick and die. Further, again going on your description of how she looks now, if she does not feed, I think you should euthanise.
 

ManEatingShrimp

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDhNuB4yADo
I could not get a good video of the cherry barbs because they wouldn't stop moving. I will try again tomorrow though.

I change the water weekly and just did a change today but forgot to test the water. There are only 2-3 barbs sick and the krib. I have had the he barbs for over 5 months but the krib I got on craigslist with a 20 gallon tank. I did not notice extensive damage until a few weeks ago and was hoping it would just heal on its own.

She is eating fine now and seems to be acting normal. I don't know why she freaked like I described in the first post. Watching her eat again today I realized theres isn't much damage to her mouth, the jaws just extend further than I thought they should. I tried catching her but its next to impossible. She is smart enough to have figured out I can't get to her in the back right corner of the tank.

I also tried catching the sick barbs... they will literally swim into the net whenever I DON'T want to catch them, but then when I do want to catch them they are suddenly super fast and clever!
 

sorberj

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The Krib doesn't look that bad although she is a bit red around the lips and they do look a bit swollen. I had a hard time discerning the actual wound in the video. She may well clear the infection on her own if she's left in clean water. I still think a medicated food is the safest way to go but many don't believe they are effective enough to warrant the expense. My personal take on that observation (and I'm not trying to start an argument) is that treatment is typically started too late in severe infections for the medications to make a difference.

Please forgive any typos. This was sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using the MonsterAquariaNetwok App
 

sorberj

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Sep 14, 2009
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You're right it shouldn't be that way. The drawing helped me know where to look. Its probably not hole in the head, I would quarantine if possible, do twice-weekly water changes on the QT, and feed a medicated food.

Please forgive any typos. This was sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using the MonsterAquariaNetwok App
 
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