HELP ! Tiger Barbs Dying.

J

JohnGivens

AC Members
Dec 20, 2004
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Washington
Hello everyone,

I am running a 29 Gallon tank. In the last two days my Tiger Barb population
has dropped from 6 barbs to 3. The Chemistries are : pH 7.2 Nitrates 5.0 Nitrites 0 and ammonia 0. I tried adding Melafix yesterday but lost another Tiger Barb shortly after adding it so I did a 66% water change. The current tank population is 2 clown Loaches (2 inch) (added 2 weeks ago). 3 redtail sharks (3 inch), 6 Rosey Barbs 2.5 inch), 1 horsetail loach (2 inch) 1 African Knifefish (3 inch) and 3 remaining Tiger Barbs (2 inch) The last Tiger darkened slightly on his dorsal aspect before dying. I don't want to lose anymore fish from this tank, does anyone have any ideas on what might be causing this ? Is Melafix safe to use as directed in this tank ? I understand that the knifefish is considered scaleless so I am concerned with putting medication in the tank. any and all help appreciated. John
 
Can you provide some more information? Water test results are a great start, but it would be helpful to know a few more things.
It sounds like you suspect a bacterial infection; can you post a picture, or a detailed description of what the fish looked like/behaved like before dying? Different types of infection need different meds - MelaFix may not be enough.
You mention that you added two loaches two weeks ago, were they quarantined beforehand? It's possible they brought disease into the tank, but it's odd to me that it's only the barbs that are being affected. Tigers can be pretty rough on each other as well as tank mates, have they been picking on each other? Have other fish been picking on them? Sometimes they'll suffer stress from bullying and nipping, which can lead to infection.
Let us know what you can, we'll do our best to help :)
 
Hi Blinky,
Thanks for your response. As far as the Tiger Barbs behavior prior to dying, I noticed him swimming in small circles and upside down frequently doing 360's. It took him a half hour to die after I first noted anything wrong. I have not seen any aggressive behavoir in the tank between tankmates. The loaches were quaranteened for 10 days prior to putting them in the tank. They do not appear ill. The Tank is a 29 gallon All-Glass with a Penguin 170 biowheel a 200 watt Visitherm heater, 1 long airstone and 1 small airstone. 2 inches of gravel.
 
Ok john I don't mean to insult your intelligence but are you positive the fish was dead? I have Tiger barbs and every once and a while they start acting like you just described. They seem like they are having the hardest time swiming. When I first notiiced this I also thought my fish was going to die....but the next day it was back to normal. I looked into it a little and it turns out that tiger barbs act like this every once and awhile....though nobody really knows why.(Mating behavior maybe?)
 
If the Tiger Barb wasn't dead :eek: wouldn't he move when I moved him around with the net he was gasping air at the surface and stopped moving completely. I sure hope he was dead :o If he wasn't I definitely finished him off prematurely. One of the Barbs I found lying upside down in a playtube that I had in the tank, completely motionless. How far do Tiger Barbs go to play dead ?
 
ok it sounds like yours were dead. I don't think they actually play dead...they just swim around like they are dying.
 
Red-tailed sharks are very hostile especially towards their own kind. Having two red-tailed sharks in one tank could have created aggression. Is there plenty of hiding places for the sharks? It could be that sharks are attacking the barbs from invading their territory. But I am puzzled why only the barbs are dying and not any other fish ... thus there must be another reason.

But keep an eye on the red-tailed sharks, they are extremely hostile.

Rohn
 
It's the red tails.

They cannot stand tiger barbs for whatever reason. They hunt them down like you wouldn't believe.

I have seen one take out an entire school of tigers. One by one. It would chase one until it just gave up and died then it would go after the next then the next.

I can't explain it. But I have seen it happen on numerous occasions.

The sharks are going to turn on each other very soon and you will be left with only one if you don't remove the other two.
What you will want to do is make the one shark a little cave that it can defend and call its own. Otherwise it will take the entire tank as it's territory and make life hell of all the other fish.

I once had one that use to swim up the Aquaclear 500 current and live in the filter. It took over a month of dropping the water level down a couple of inches to stop him from going in there and to move into the cave. He was the sheriff of that tank until he died at the ripe old age of 7. The cichlids wouldn't go near him and gave him wide berth. They knew who the boss was.
 
bad sharky...

Have to agree with Scott above. Recently got a Rainbow shark myself. In doing the research on it, they have behavior similar to Red tails, and the recommendations were to only have one of this species in the tank.

Tiger barbs are vicious enough to one another. With three of these little shark monsters in there too, it's gotta be a war zone. I'd bring two RTS's back to the store. Just because you're not witnessing the aggression, doesn't mean it's not there.

Since I've added my one rainbow shark, my 5 tiger barbs have been doing just fine. But I'm still keeping an eye on them.
 
I've got a red tail in my 55 gal with 2 green barbs and 1 tiger barb (among like 10 other Tetras & 1 pleco). My RTS mostly leaves the barbs alone except during feeding and occasionally during an off mood. During feeding my 1 RTS actually will chase the barbs away from my small snowball pleco (it's like he wants to make sure the pleco has a chance to get a piece of the algae tablet, very interesting...)

When the RTS does chase the barbs it's usually only for a split second or two just to clear them out, then he goes back to doin his own thing. He never actively searches the barbs out looking for a fight...But I agree the RTS definately has a thing against barbs, he totally leaves the Tetras alone even if they croud around him, but barbs, no way...

As far as unusal activity by Barbs, mine occasionally hover "nose down" usually after eating. I read another post where a girl mentioned her's do "headstands", which is what I think mine do as well...
 
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