Help: Sick fish?

[leibniz]

I have a green tiger barb who appears to have some tiny white dots on his rear fin, and a couple on his underbelly. Today when I fed the fish, it wasn't interested in food (strange) and it seems to spend time at the surface as if it was feeding (gasping?).

I plan to do a water change, and my last change was on Friday. The tank has been set up for 3 weeks now. Can anyone tell me what might be wrong?

 

[Faramir]

Well, long distance diagnosis is difficult, but this sounds like ich.

 

[mt_marcy]

your fish has gotten ick, do a water change asap and get a fish medication that treats ick and follow the directions on the package.
mt_marcy!

 

[Ozma]

I had a case of ich on tank start up as well and was puzzled as to the best way to treat it. I chose the salt method and it worked like a charm. I nudged the temp up about a degree an hour until it hit about 85 and added table salt, a few teaspoons at a time. There are different opinions as to how much is needed, but I added about 1 teaspoon per gallon total. I kept the conditions that way for about a week and then slowly started nudging the temp back down and added fresh water whenever I was ready for a water change. You'll get lots of opinions here, but that is what worked for me.

 

[NJ Devils Fan]

If you want to use medicine, use QuICK Cure. It works very well. Take whatever carbon you have in your filter out and use the medicine as directed.