Recently I decided to start up my larger tank. It has been sitting empty for about 6 months except for some plants. I removed all the excess debris, algae, etc. Then I set the tank up to do afishless cycle for several weeks with a seeded filter, while I considered what to stock with. I decided, since the last crash was instigated by a faulty heater to go with hardy, cool-tolerant (not cold!) fish. Rosey barbs or gold barbs seemed like a good choice. When I got to the store, the roseys were all female and looks poorly. Instead I decided to go with green tiger barbs because they complimented my tank. I purchased 5, although I would usually only put in 3, I was afraid of pecking order issues with just 3 fish.
The barbs have been in full color, eating, and behaving normally, jousting and darting around for a week. No signs of illness or stress. No one being picked on. Unless yesterday evening. One of the barbs was swimming in a slow, wide circle around the tank, slightly tilted, No other visable symptoms of stress or illness, no gasping, red gills, spinning, flipping, etc. Full color. Ate. I did a 25% water change and let them be.
This morning he was on his last fin so I put him down. I noticed another barb starting to do the same thing. I removed him from the tank and he died sometime during the day. Now a 3rd barb is doing the same thing. The other 2 look and act 100% healthy.
Tank: ~15 US gallons
Perameters: No access to test kits
Filter: Korean brand of internal filter rated for 30 gallons w/ spray bar turned to the wall
Set up time: several weeks fishless cycling; 1 week with fish
Water change schedule: 15% every other day
Water changes in the past 24 hours: 25%, 50%
Fish: 5 green tiger barbs - 1 week
Plants: baseball sized java moss ball, sags, and anubias
Feeding: dried brine shrimp eggs, random pellet food every other day
Temperature: 70 F
Symptoms: loss of balance, slow, tilted spirals but could control up and down, not completely flipped on their side or belly
Did I get a bad batch of barbs with a contagious illness or is it a water quality issue of some kind killing them? More water changes?
I have another tank but they can't go in there because it houses male guppies and a pair of German blue rams. I did notice that the store's tank no longer has green barbs in it, so either they died or were purchased over the past week.
The barbs have been in full color, eating, and behaving normally, jousting and darting around for a week. No signs of illness or stress. No one being picked on. Unless yesterday evening. One of the barbs was swimming in a slow, wide circle around the tank, slightly tilted, No other visable symptoms of stress or illness, no gasping, red gills, spinning, flipping, etc. Full color. Ate. I did a 25% water change and let them be.
This morning he was on his last fin so I put him down. I noticed another barb starting to do the same thing. I removed him from the tank and he died sometime during the day. Now a 3rd barb is doing the same thing. The other 2 look and act 100% healthy.
Tank: ~15 US gallons
Perameters: No access to test kits
Filter: Korean brand of internal filter rated for 30 gallons w/ spray bar turned to the wall
Set up time: several weeks fishless cycling; 1 week with fish
Water change schedule: 15% every other day
Water changes in the past 24 hours: 25%, 50%
Fish: 5 green tiger barbs - 1 week
Plants: baseball sized java moss ball, sags, and anubias
Feeding: dried brine shrimp eggs, random pellet food every other day
Temperature: 70 F
Symptoms: loss of balance, slow, tilted spirals but could control up and down, not completely flipped on their side or belly
Did I get a bad batch of barbs with a contagious illness or is it a water quality issue of some kind killing them? More water changes?
I have another tank but they can't go in there because it houses male guppies and a pair of German blue rams. I did notice that the store's tank no longer has green barbs in it, so either they died or were purchased over the past week.
