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Hey all. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with Tiger barbs losing weight. Mine seem to be doing well. Swimming around, chasing each other, & eating. But, some of them seem to be "thinning". They act fine otherwise, but the weight loss is odd. Also, they seem to have a dark patch that develops on their sides every once in a while, between their vert. stripes. If anyone has any ideas or experience with this, or ideas, let me know.
Thanks,
MeDainBramaged

Odds are its an internal parasite of some sort, possibly protozoan, or roundworm, tapeworm etc. The darkening patches are probably just stress related as a result of poor health, but barbs will show subtle darkening in response to all kinds of stress, from courtship and dominance, to just being startled. Something like jungle antiparasite formula would treat most of the more common parasites. Are the fish showing translucent or whitish poo? It can give you a clue sometimes.

If you can give us more details about the tank, the water quality, and cagemates it might help us provide you with a better diagnosis.Sometimes fish fail to feed when kept under suboptimal conditions, something that is not always clear to the keeper,or has simply been missed, so its worth mentioning just about everything.