Weird problem with my fish

[Guilherme]

Hi everyone!

I've been having some problems with my fish and I hope someone can help me, sorry if the post is a bit long:

I've been spawning and raising a small number os species of tetras and I haven't had any major problem with them. However, I'm also trying to raise cherry barbs, and for some reason I've been having problems with the fry, and I can't find out what's going on.

When the (cherry barb) fry are small, I sometimes notice a few of them are unusually dark and don't behave very normally. I figure this isn't normal, but it usually disappears after a few weeks.
The true problems appear (or maybe I only notice them) when they are about one inch long. Most of the fish seem to exhibit a difficulty to swim to the bottom of the tank (they slowly float to the surface when they stop swimming) and some of them show some kind of deformity- it's not that "broken spine" appearence, usually it affects the tail, causing it to be slightly bent. Curiously, a few of the fry grow to be totally healthy adults(unfortunately only a very small number from each spawn).

At first I thought this could be due to bad food or water quality, but I've raised tetra and barb fry in the same tank and only the cherry barb fry showed any of these conditions.

So now I'm a bit lost. Could this be some kind of disease or maybe it's more likely a genetic problem? Any other ideas?

I'd really appreciate any replies!

Thanks!!
Guilherme

 

[Cichlid Woman]

I do not know--but what about trying new breeder stock for the cherry barbs?

-- Pat

 

[rockhead44]

I agree with Cichlid Woman
Sometimes you come across a stock of fish which contain defects.But ussaully this does not affect 100 % of the fry,you never know.I would try another pair from another pet shop and see what you get.If the results are the same report back and look further .don't give up and you will get the results you want eventualy.There is nothing like being a proud parent to a batch of fry ,That is till you have so many you don't know what to do with them.The only other thing I could think of is the symtoms(curved spines) sound a bit like TB I had this in a tank a while back affects some and lays dorment in others.Hopefully that is not your problem Good luck!

 

[Guilherme]

Thanks! I'll get a new pair and see if the results are better.

rockhead:

What do you mean by TB? Tuberculosis?? If that is what you mean, I've actually also thought of it....but I really don't want it to be that.... However, if that is the case, is there a treatment for it??

 

[rockhead44]

Guilherme
That was what I meant , Here is a site that is great to keep in your favorites http://www.2cah.com/pandora/Disease.html#TB .I treated mine with antibiotics and warter changes .I believe that I culled the deformed fish ,some died and the rest survied.I don't think you can %100 cure the disease ,the fish live with it and will it will show up later on when the fish become weak from something else..Maybe someone else can give some more information.I has been a while since I have had to deal with that disease .Hope it is just bad stock for you

 

[Serrateeth_2002]

Fish TB has no cure,all you can do is quarantine the infected.Just make sure you don't make the fish too stressed,it brings out the disease,i think

 

[mwood322]

The bent or curly tail is a genetic defect in many Cherry Barbs. I'd suggest getting pairs from several sources, even males and females from seperate places if possible to get the best genetic diversity. Put all teh sets together and decide on which pair looks best, then breed them. If they don't work out, change the pairing again.

If you are selling the fry, I wouldn't sell the bent back ones. They would just be adding problems to the already sometimes sketchy Cherry Barb bloodlines.

--Mia

 

[Guilherme]

Thanks for all the info!

Does TB kill the fish fast? I've had some of the fish which have the problems for a while and none died. Another thing that gives me hope that maybe it isn't TB is the fact that I have a few black phantom tetras and one glowlight tetra in the same tank and none of these tetras seem to be affected.
Having genetic problems on a bunch of fry is bad enough for me...I don't want a contagious and cureless disease too!!!

 

[Serrateeth_2002]

TB already exsist in the fish,it is just waiting for the immune system to be lowered when the fish is stressed for it to come out,i think.